
Class. 



BookAi£XL^ 
Copyright N" 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



A HISTORY OF ONEONTA. 




DUDLEY M. CAMPBELL, 

From i)ortrait tak.ni ou porch of Daniel Webster's home, Marslitield, Mas 



A History of Oneonta 

FROM ITS EARLIEST SETTLEMENT 
TO THE PRESENT TIME. 



BY 

Dudley M. Campbell. 




ONEONTA, N. Y. 
G. W. FAIRCHILD & CO. 

1906 






LIBBARY of CONGRESS 

Two CoDies Received 

UAN 29 1906 

Copyrieht Entry 

/J-C^ 3.9. f9ai 

CLASS a. XXc. No, 



COPYBIGHT 1905 
BY DUDLEY M. CAMPBELL 



CONTENTS 



Preface • • • • 

Chapter I — The Town's Earliest History.. 15 

Chapter II— Early Settlers in Oneonta 29 

Chapter III— Prominent Men of the Town. . . 45 

Chapter IV — Pioneer Experiences... 53 

Chapter V— The Township Organized 79 

Chapter VI — Xewspapers and Schools 93 

Chapter VII— Stories of the Older Inhabitants 101 
Chapter VIII— Early Settlers OntsidetheVillag-e 109 
Chapter IX — Keligions Organizations in One- 
onta 115 

Chapter X— Oneonta Sixty Years Ago and 

Now !-•' 

APPENDIX. 

Oneonta in 1841 1^1 

The Town's Military Kecord 135 

Excerpts from "Oneonta Memories"— 

The Kailroad Celebration in 1865 141 

Leading Citizens in 1866 1^4 

Public School Pnpils in 1808 145 



Historical Sketches from The Oneouta Herald — 

Uncle Jeremj and His Times 149 

An Ancient Village Site 155 

An Indian Mound 157 

Recollections of Harvey Baker — 

An Historical Sketch of "Barn Hill" 1G2 

The Oneonta Militia 169 

The Site of the Baird Block 178 

Supervisors of Oneonta 177 

Oneonta Village Incorporation 178 

Poems by Emily Bngbee Johnson — 

Going Home 185 

The Vale of the Susquehanna 189 




LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

Portrait oi" Antlior fvont>'<piece 

Onoonta in 1860 fronting page l(i 

The Old Briflg-e, 1885 " 32' 

Main Street, Looking East, 1870.. " 48" 

The Old Mill, 1885 " O-t 

Broad Street, 187o " 80 

Oneonta Xormal School " 06 

Main Street, 187o '' 112^ 

The State Armory '' 128' 

Walnut Street, 1870 •• 144 

Fox Memorial Hospital " 160 

Dietz Street, north of AValniit, 1870 " 176 



PREFACE 



IN preparing this work for publication the aim of the 
author has been to put in preservative form such 
information as has been gathered from private and 
public documents and from the tradition of the older 
inhabitants who were 

''To the manor born," 
but who have passed away. In addition to a historical 
sketch published about twenty years ago, this work con- 
tains a large amount of new matter which has been 
gathered during the time that has elapsed since that 
publication. Among other additions this work con- 
tains various acts of the legislature regarding the town 
and affecting its interests, together with a complete list 
of the inhabitants who were known to be voters residing 
here in 1830— the date when the town was organized— 
and this list must be nearly a correct poll-list of the first 
town election held. 

The work is brought down to the present time. It 
contains numerous illustrations showing landmarks in 



the old village and in the new village as it now is. 
These illustrations, it is hoped, will help to emphasize 
the improvements that have marked the development of 
our town and village. 

The author takes pleasure in acknowledging his obli- 
gations to Willard V. Huntington, John K. Skinner, 
Willard E, Yager, the late Harvey Baker, and others 
for valuable information and suggestions. 

Dudley M. Campbell^ 

Oneonta, :N'. Y. 
December 15th, 1905. 




CAMPBELL'S HISTORY OF OA^EONTA. 



History of Oneonta 



CHAPTER I. 

THE TOWN^S EAKIJEST HISTORY, 

THE territory comprised within the present bounda- 
ries of the town of Oneonta, previous to tlie war 
of the Revolution was little known except as the 
scene of many a sanguinary conflict between the differ- 
ent Indian tribes which contended with each other for 
its possession. The Delawares, whose home was on the 
river bearing their name, had been in peaceful possess- 
ion of the upper Susquehanna valley from time imme- 
morial; but long before the outbreak of hostilities between 
England and her trans-Atlantic colonies, the Tuscaro- 
ras, a warlike tribe from Virginia, wandered up the 
Susquehanna from Chesapeake Bay and laid claim to 
the upper portion of the valley as their hunting grounds. 
From that time, with brief and uncertain intervals of 
peace, up to the beginning of the Revolutionary strug- 
gle, the war between the contending tribes was waged 
with relentless fury. 

Eventually the strife between these aboriginal tribes 
terminated in favor of the invaders, or Tuscaroras, who 



lb IIISTOEY OF OAEOXTA 

were soou thereafter allied to and became a part of the 
Six Nations, occupying the more northern and western 
portions of the state. 

Large Indian settlements or villages were located with- 
in the boundaries of the town of Oneonta— one at the 
mouth of the Charlotte creek and another at the mouth 
of the Otego creek, the former known as Adaquatingie 
and the latter kno^vn as Ahtigua. Both of these villages 
appear to have been abandoned before our war of In- 
dependence, as the Eev. Mr. Hawley, a missionary from 
Stockbridge, Mass., who passed down the valley in 1754, 
makes no mention in his diary of Adaquatingie, but 
says his party camped over night at the mouth of the 
Abtigua where there "had been" an Indian settlement. 

A little more than a mile east of the line now estab- 
lished between Oneonta and Milford, at the confluence 
of the Susquehanna and Schene^ois, there was also a 
large Indian village known as Tiondadon. The latter 
village is mentioned by Mr. Hawley as occupied by the 
aborigines in 1754. 

In 1779 General Clinton's army passed down the val- 
ley from Otsego lake to join General Sullivan's forces 
to the westward. On their march they laid waste the 
rude hamlets wherever any Indian habitations remained. 
The tradition has been handed down, that when Clin- 
ton's dam was built for the purpose of raising the water 
of the lake in order that the army luggage might be 
borne down on a flood-tide, the Indians were terrified 



THE town's earliest HISTORY. 17 

at the fliiniiiution of the water, supposing it to be the 
Avork of the Great Spirit, and sped from the valley. 

General Clinton's passage through the valley was 
aided by means of batteaiix which carried the higgage 
while the main army followed the well-worn trail that 
led dowTi the river to the westward. An encampment 
was made for one night, according to a diary kept by 
one of the officers, at VanDerwerker's mill. This Van- 
Derwerker built the first grist mill that was erected in 
the town. It stood southeasterly fifty rods from the 
Oneonta Milling Company's building. I^ear this old 
mill site the trail crossed the river some distance north 
of the iron bridge now spanning the Susquehanna at 
the lower end of JMain street. Vestiges of the old mill 
dam were pointed out to me many years ago bymy grand- 
father, Dr. Joseph Lindsay. 

After the passage of the army to the westward, the 
Susquehanna valley ceased to be the permanent abiding 
place of the red men. A few scattered representatives 
of the once proud Tuscaroras and Oneidas built their 
temporary wigwams where convenience suggested, and 
derived such subsistence as the forest and stream af- 
forded till their removal to Oneida, but they were no 
longer a terror to the settlers. 

In the expeditions sent out to the southwestward 
from Albany, and likewise in the marauding expeditions 
of the savages against the frontier settlements along the 
Schoharie, the Susquehanna valley, wherein is situated 



18 JIISTORY OF OXEO.XTA. 

the village of Oneonta, became the coiunion liiohway to 
both parties. The old Indian trail, it has been ascer- 
tained, from the Schoharie fort to the west, passed down 
the Schenevus creek to its mouth, there crossed the Sus- 
quehanna, and continued down the northwest side of the 
stream, passed through the village of Oneonta nearly 
along the line of IMain street; thence crossing the river 
near the lower end of the village, it continued westward 
on the south side of the stream for some distance down 
the rivei', on toward the (Chemung and the fort at Os- 
wego. There was also another trail leading from Scho- 
harie to irar]xu-stield and thence down the (^harlotte 
creek to the Susquehanna. 

"We had gone on al)out ten miles farther which 
brought us as low down as where Collier's bridge now 
crosses the river. Here we imagined that the Indians 
were possibly as cunning as ourselves, and woiild doubt- 
less take the more obscure way and endeavor to meet us 
on the east side. On which account we waded the 
stream and struck into the woods crossing the Indian 
path, toward a place now called Craft-town.'' (Priest's 
Collection of Stories of the R(!volution, published in 
183G. ''McKeon's Scouts in Otsego County.") 

On the high ground, a little distance beyond the south- 
ern extremity of the Lowxm* or Parish Bridge, there has 
been found within the past few years a large ring, which 
from the inscription traced upon it, is supposed to have 
belonged. to one of Butler's Rangers. This ring is now 



THE town's earliest HISTORY. 19 

in the possession of Dr. Meigs Case, and bears upon its 
enter side these words and letters: Georgius Rex; B. 
R." It is supposed that the letters 'T>. R." are abbre- 
viations for ''Butler's Rangers."- i 

In 1683 two Cayuga Indians gave the following geo- 
graphical information to the justices of Albany regard- 
ing the valley. The quotation is from the Documentary 
History of New York, Vol. I, page 393, etc. : 

"That it is one day's journey from the Mohawk Cas- 
tles to the lake whence the Susquehanna river rises, 
and then ten days' journey from the river to the Sus- 
quehanna Castles — in all eleven days. 

"One day and a half's journey by land from Oneida 
to the kill (TJnadilla river), which falls into the Sus- 
quehanna river, and one day from the kill unto the Sus- 
quehanna river, and then seven days unto the Susque- 
hanna Castle — in all nine and a half days' journey." 

"The Indians d(>man(l wlicrefore such particular in- 
formation relative to the Susquehanna river is sought 
after from them, and whether people are about to come 
there ? The Indians are asked if it would be agreeable to 
them if folks should settle there ? The Indians answer 
that they would bevery glad if people came to settlethere, 
as it is nigher than this place and more convenient to 
transport themselves and packs by water, inasmuch as 
they must bring everything hither on their backs. iNT. 
B. — The ascending of the Susquehanna river is one 
week longer than the desccndinc:." 



20 HISTORY OF OXEO.XTA. 

In 1684 the Onondaga* and Cayuga sachems made an 
oration before Lord Howard of Effingham at Albany, 
from which the following extracts are taken. I have 
])reserved the original spelling: 

"Wee have putt all our land and ourselfs under the 
Protection of the great Duke of York, the brotlier of 
your great Sachim. We have given the Susquehanna 
Kiver which we wonn with the sword to this Government 
and desire that it may be a branch of that great tree, 
Whose topp reaches to the Sunn, under whose branches 
we shall shelter our selves from the French, oi- any 
other people, and ou.r iire burn in your houses and your 

*From a record of a meeting of the uiayor and alderman of 
Albany in 1689 the Omondagas are called ti onon dages. 

In an old map 'Ound am ng the papers of sir (.Tiiy Johnson the 
Schenevus criek or valley is called Tiononda-don. The prefix Ti 
appears to have been quite common among Indian names, some- 
times used and sometimes omitted. Doubtless Ononda is the root of 
the word Ti cnonda-don As the Onondagas has claimed the 
Susquehanna country, the Indian etymologist might naturally 
inquire whether there was any kinship between Tionondaga, 
Tionondadon, Onondaga, and the word Oneonia. This behef in 
a common etyuKm might be somewhat strengthened by a quota- 
tion from a '"Journal of What Occurred between the French and 
Savages," kept during the year 1657-58. (See Doc. Hist, Vol. I. 
p. 44 : 

"The word Ononta, which signfies in the Iroquois tongue, a 
mountain, has given the name to the village called Onnontae, 
or as others call it. Onnontague, because it is on a mountain." 

Perhaps the word Oneonta may have been derived from 
Ononda. In all languages dentals are interchangable, which 
would make Ononta the same as Ononda. Among the Hurons 
who had been conquered by the Iroquois, a tribe is mentioned 
Under the name of Ti onnonta-tes. 

No reliance can be placed upon any particular spelling of In- 
dian names as the Aborigines had no written language and the 
spelling was a matter of guess work from the pronunciation. 



THE town's earliest HISTORY. 21 

fire burns with us, and we desire that it ahvays maj be 
90, and will not that any of your Penn's people shall 
settle upon the Susquehanna River; for all our folks 
or soldiers are like Wolfs in the Woods, as you Sachim 
of Virginia know, we having no other land to leave to 
our wives and Children." 

In 1691 the governor and council of the province of 
Xew York sent an address to the king of England, from 
which the following extract is made : 

"Albany lies upon the same river, etc. Its commerce 
extends itself far as the lakes of Canada and the Sin- 
nekes Country in which is the Susquehanna River." 

It appears that the ownership of the Susquehanna was 
the object of no little dispute among the tribes compos- 
ing tlie Six Xations. The Onondagas claimed the 
country. 

''At fifty miles from Albany the Land Carriage from 
the Mohawk's riA'er to a lake from whence the I^Torthern 
Branch of Susquehanna takes its rise, does not exceed 
fourteen miles. Goods may be carried from this lake 
in Battoes or flat-bottomed Vessels through Pennsyl- 
vania to !^^aryland and Virginia, the current of the 
river running everywhere easy without any cataract in 
all that large space." 

The last quotation is from the report of the Surveyor 
General to the Lieutenant Governor in 1637. 

The foregoing extracts appear to contain about all 
the information which the authorities nt tlie colonial 



22 HISTOKY OF ONEONTA. 

capital could glean of the Indians concerning the Sus- 
quehanna country, as it was called. 

The few scattered natives who remained here after 
the establishment of peace, were, in 1795, removed to 
the reservation in Oneida county, and became a part of 
the Indian tribes already settled there. 

In volume III of the Documentary History of Xew 
York, a quaintly interesting letter of the Rev. Gideon 
Hawley may be found. The letter is interesting, l->e- 
cause it may be safely regarded as the earliest authentic 
writing respecting this portion of the valley. Mr. Haw- 
ley was sent out as a missionary teacher to the Indians. 

About this time a good deal of interest was being 
taken in the education of Indian youth. For the 
furtherance of this design, the Rev. Eleazur Wheelock 
established a school at Xew Lebanon, Conn,, for the edu- 
cation of young whites and young Indians. This school 
afterwards ripened into Dartmouth college, and was re- 
moved to Hanover, ]Srew Hampshire. From this new- 
fledged seminary the Rev. Mr. Kirkland was sent among 
the Oneidas, and his labors in that quarter resulted 
many years afterwards in the founding of Hamilton 
college at Clinton. From a similar school established 
at Stockbridge, Mass., and which appears to have been 
favored by the influence and good will of the celebrated 
Jonathan Edwards, Mr. Hawley was sent to Oquaga on 
the Susquehanna. 

0([naga was the Tndi;ui settlement near tlie site of 



THK TOWX^S EAllLIEST HISTOKY. 23 

the present village of Windsor in Broome county. Mr. 
Hawlev's jonrncy was from Albany up the Mohawk, 
across the mountains to Schoharie, thence along the 
valley to Sehenevus creek and westward. As his let- 
ter, in the form of a journal, contains the earliest 
account that is known of the presence of white people 
within the present territorial limits of Oneonta, I hope 
the quotations I make from it may prove of some in- 
terest. The letter is dated July 31st, 1704. The 
first entry is as follows : 

July Slst, 1794. 

''It is forty years this date since I was ordained a 
missionary to the Indians, in the old South Meeting 
House, when the Kev. Dr. Sewall preached on the occa- 
sion and the Rev. Mr. Prince gave the charge. The 
Rev. Mr. Foxcroft and Dr. Chauncey of Cambridge, 
assisted upon the occasion, and Mr. Appleton. I en- 
tered upon this arduous business at Stockbridge, under 
the patronage of the Rev. Mr. Edwards. Was instruc- 
tor of a few families of Iroquois, who came down from 
their country for the sake of christian knowledge and 
the schooling of their children. These families con- 
sisted of Mohawks, Oneidas and Tnscaroras. I was 
their school-master, and preached to them on the Lord's 
day. ]\Ir. Edwards visited my school, catechised my 
scholars, and frequently delivered a discourse to the 
children." 

This quotation uuiy serve to show what kind of man 



24 HISTORY OF ONEONTA. 

this early missionary was, and the deep interest then 
felt in the education and civilization of the aborigines. 
The formality with which the clerical harness was put 
on in the historic Old South Church, is strikingly in 
contrast with the way the missionary to the Indians is 
equipped now-a-days. 

In the following quotations the dates are of the year 
1753. May 22d of that year, a party consisting of 
Mr. Hawley, Mr. Woodbridge, a Mr. Ashley and Mrs. 
Ashley, set out from Stockbridge for Oquaga. 

May 30th, 1753, a little more than a week after 
leaving Stockbridge, the party had its first view of the 
Susquehanna at Colliers. As the journal gives some 
description of our valley as it was then — about one 
hundred and fifty years ago — I quote freely : 

''Our way was generally obstructed by fallen trees, 
old logs, miry places, pointed rocks, and entangled roots, 
which were not to be avoided. We were alternately 
on the ridge of a lofty mountain and in the depths of 
a valley. At best, our path was obscure and we needed 
guides to go before us. Night approaches, we halt 
and a fire is kindled; the kettles are filled and we re- 
fresh ourselves; and we adore Divine Providence, re- 
turning thanks for the salvations of the day and commit- 
ting ourselves to God for the night, whose presence is 
equally in the recesses of the solitary wilderness and in 
the social walks of the populous city. With the stnrrv 
heavens above me, and having the earth for my bod. 



THE town's EABLIEST HISTORY. 25 

I roll myself in a blanket, and without a dream to dis- 
turb my repose, pass the night in quiet, and never awake 
till the eyelids of morning are opened, and the j)ene- 
trating rays of the sun look through the surrounding 
foliage. 

'*It may not be impertinent to observe that in this 
wilderness we neither see nor hear any birds of music. 
These frequent only the abodes of man. There is one 
wood-bird, not oft^n seen, but heard without any melody 
in his note, in every part of the wilderness wherever I 
have been. In some parts of this extensive country, 
the wild pigeons breed in numbers almost infinite. I 
once passed an extensive valley where they had rested; 
and for six or eight miles, where the trees were near 
and thick, every tree had a number of nests upon it, 
and some not less than fifteen or twenty upon them. 
But as soon as their young are able, they take wing and 
are seen no more." 

The next extract is from the journal of May 30th, 
1753: 

"^^'e were impatient to see the famous Susquehanna, 
and as soon as we came, Mr. Woodbridge and I walked 
down to its banks. Disappointed at the smallness of 
its stream, he exclaimed, Ts this the Susquehanna V 

"When we returned our young Indians, who had 
halted, came in, looking as terrible and ugly as they 
could, having bedaubed their faces with vermilion, lamp- 
black, white lead. etc. A vounc Indian alwavs carries 



26 HISTORY OF O.NEONTA, 

with him his looking glass and paint ; and does not con- 
sider himself as dressed until he has adjnst^ed his coun- 
tenance by their assistance. 

''Mr. Woodbridge and ]\Irs. Ashley, our interpreter, 
could not travel any further by land. We therefore 
concluded to get a canoe and convey them by water. 
From this place (now Colliers) to Onohoghwage is three 
days' journey; and how bad the traveling is we cannot 
tell. 

"May 31st, (1753). We met with difficulty about 
getting a canoe, and sent an Indian into the woods to 
get ready a bark, but he made small progress. 

"In the afternoon came from Otsego Lake, which is 
the source of this stream, George Windecker and 
another, in a suiall battx;'au, Avith goods and rum, going 
down to Onohoghwage upon a trading voyage. We 
agreed with them to carry the interpreter and IMr. 
Woodbridge in their batteau; and bought a M-ooden 
canoe to carry our flour and baggage. 

"We soon saw the ill effects of Windecker's rum. 
The Indians began to drink and some of our party were 
the worse for it. We perceived what was coming. 

"June 1st., 1753, is with uie a memorable day, and 
for forty years and more has not passed unnoticed. We 
got off as silently as we could with ourselves and our ef- 
fects. Some went by water and others by land, with 
the horses. I was with the land party. The Indians, 
half intoxicated, were outrageous, and pursued both 



THE town's earliest HISTORY. 27 

the party by water, in which was Mr. Woodbridge, and 
the party by land. One came so near iis as with his club 
to strike at us, and he hit one of our horses. We has- 
tened. Neither party met till we arrived at Wauteghe 
(the name of the Indian village at the mouth of the 
Otego creek), at which had been an Indian village, 
where were a few fruit trees and considerable cleared 
land, but no inhabitants. Here, being unmolested and 
secure, we all refreshed ourselves. But Pallas was the 
worse for his rum ; was so refractory that Mr. Ashley's 
hired man, who had been in the canoe with him, was 
afraid. I reproved him ; got into the canoe to keep him 
in order ; was young and inexperienced ; knew not much 
of Indians, nor much of mankind ; whereby I endan- 
gered my life." 

In 1763, Eev. Mr. Wheelock made application to 
Gen. Amherst for a land grant in the following words: 
"That a tract of land, about fifteen or twenty miles 
square, or so much as shall be sufficient for four town- 
ships, on the west side of Susquehanna river, or in some 
other place more convenient, in the heart of the Indian 
country, be granted in favor of this school. The said 
townships be peopled with a chosen number of inhabi- 
tants of known honesty, integrity, and such as love and 
will be kind to, and honest in their dealings with In- 
dians. 

"That a thousand acres of, and within said grant be 
given to this scliool ; part of it to be a college for the 



28 HISTORY OF O^^EONTA, 

education of missionaries, interpreters, school-masters^ 
etc. ; and part of it a school to teach reading, writing, 
etc. And that there be manufactures for the instruc- 
tion of both males and females in whatever shall be 
useful and necessary in life, and proper tutors, masters 
and mistresses be provided for the same." 

In 1770 a grant of 26,000 acres of land was made to 
Sir William Johnson. This tract was largely in the 
present town of Oneonta. How far it extended down 
the river from the Otego creek is not certain. It ap- 
pears to have included the land on both sides of the Sus- 
quehanna west of the Otego creek, and some old deeds 
are in existence which refer to Jolmson's patent. It 
has been erroneously supposed that this tract was known 
as "Dreamland." But this tract was gTanted by a royal 
patent. Dreamland was acquired by grant or deed 
from King Ilendrick. As the story goes Hendrick re- 
lated to Sir William a "dream" that the latter had 
presented him with a new suit of clothes. Johnson ful- 
filled the dream by presenting the chief with tlie suit, 
and soon afterwards told him of a dream in which Sir 
William had been given by Ilendrick a large tract of 
land. The reply of the latter was "I suppose what 
white man dreams must be true, but don't dream again." 
The tract thus acquired was in the town of Danube, 
Herkimer county. (Benton's History of Herkimer 
also Annals of Trvon countv). 



CHAPTER H.' 

KARLY SETTLEKS IiX O.NEOXTA. 

THE first settlers in this part of the valley were from 
the older settlements on the Mohawk. Among the 
earliest pioneers was Henry Seliramling and fam- 
ily from German Flats. He came some years before 
the war began, and settled near the Otego creek bridge. 

Some idea can be formed of the hardships endured 
by this family when it is recalled that the mill, for 
flouring their grain, was on the Mohawk, east of Fort 
Plain. The grain was conveyed in small boats or 
canoes to the head of Otsego lake and thence to its des- 
tination by pack-horses. To make this journey of fifty 
miles or more and return required several days. The 
wants of the family could be supplied in no other way 
except when dire necessity brought into use the Indian 
mortar and pestle. The troubled condition of the coun- 
try after the year 1775 compelled Mr. Schranding to 
return to his former home on the Mohawk. After the 
close of hostilities, he, with his brothers George and 
David, came back to the Suscpiehanna. 

Previous to the close of the war John VanDerwerkcr, 
from Schoharie, had built a grist mill which has already 
been alluded to. It appears on good authority that his 
daughter Polly was the first white child known to have 



30 HISTORY OF ONEONTA. 

been born in the town as it now is, which birth occurred 
in the year 1782. This Polly afterwards became the 
wife of Tice Couse, a famous deer-hunter. Abram 
Houghtaling was the first male child born in town, his 
birth being in 1786. 

The first settlements were made near the river, and 
probabl}', in most cases, not far from the old Indian 
trail. 

Abram Houghtaling, Eli as Brewer and Peter Swartz 
became settlers here in 1786. Houghtaling and Brewer 
came from Washington county, and Swartz from Scho- 
harie. About the same date, James Young settled near 
the mouth of the Charlotte, and Baltus Kimball settled 
north of the village on the farm next east of Glenwood 
cemetery. 

About the year 1790, Thouuis Morenus* and Peter 
Swartz settled on the south side of the river. About 
the same time Frederick Brown came from Fulton, N. 
Y., and settled on the farm later owned and occupied by 
E. E. Ford. At this time Brown's house was the only 
frame house standing within the limits of the prest^nt 
village cor])oration. About the year 1780. Aaron 

Brink built a large log house, which stood east of Main 
street near the railroad crossing. Brink's house was 



*Thomas Morenus, before settling here, had been a captive 
among Indians, and had "run the gauntlet" at Fort Niagara. 
The terrible scourging he had received at the hands of the savages 
left marks which were plainly traceable when be had become an 
old man. 



EARLY SETTLKKS IX OXEOXTA. 31 

the first hotel kept in \]w vilhi^e of Oneonta, perhaps 
the first that was kept in town. Between Brown's house 
and Brink's tavern there was only a common Avood- 
road, witli a dense forest on either side. Afterwards 
John Fritts kept a tavern at tlie nortliwest eornerof Alain 
and Chestnut streets. 

In 1701, Asel ]\rarvin came from Vermont and first 
settled at Oneonta Plains. Shortly afterwards he re- 
moved on a larg-e tract of wild land, about two miles 
from the village, upon the Oneonta Creek. He was a 
well-known builder and lumberman. For twenty-two 
consecutive years he rafted lumber to Baltimore. He 
built the first school house on the Oneonta creek road, 
and when the first church edifice was built in town, he 
was one of the trustees of the church society. When 
Mr. ^larvin moved into the valley of the Oneonta Creek, 
the country across the hill from Oneonta to T>aurens, was 
almost an unbroken wilderness. 

Some years later than the last named date, Peter 
Dinninny opened the first store kept in town. The store 
then stood where the Stanton opera house block now 
stands. The first school house was built soon after 
l7l>0, and stood on the rise of ground on the south side 
of the river near the Youngnum farm. 

Previous to 1816, when the Presbyti^rian chun-li was 
built, church services were generally held in Frederick 
Brown's barn. Tlie first clergyman who regularly 
preached lun-e was the Kcv. Alfred ("^onkey, who was 



32 HISTORY OF ONEONTA. 

settled at Milford. Mr. Coukev was a very earnest 
and zealous man, besides being a person of liberal cul- 
ture. 

John and Nicholas Beams were early settlers to the 
east of the village. Elisha Shepherd came from Xew 
England at an early day and settled at Oneonta Plains. 
His sons, in after years, became actively engaged in 
different branches of industry, and the Plains at one 
time bid fair to become the most prominent village in 
town. It contained a hotel, a store, two churches and 
a distillery. 

Andrew Parish was also one of the pioneers of One- 
onta. He was born in Massachusetts in 1786, and 
moved from Springfield here in 1808. He settled on 
the south side of the river on the John Fritts farm, now 
owned by Mr. E. H. Pardee, and afterwards on the hill 
near the "Round Top." From the latter place he 
moved to the farm formerly owned by his son, the late 
Stephen, on the south side of the river. Mr. Parish 
reared a large family of children, all of whom became 
successful farmers, and men of business. Andrew Par- 
ish was a justice of the to^\^l for twenty years in suc- 
cession. ITe was also a commissioner of schools under 
the old system. In 180!) he put up a brick kiln on the 
Elisha Shepherd farm at the Oneonta Plains, from 
which came the first bricks that were used in town. 

Dr. Joseph Lindsay was the first physician in Oue- 
onta. He came from Pelham, in the old county of 



EARLY sp:ttleks ix oneo.xta. 33 

Hampshire, ^Eass,, in the year 1807, settling first at 
Cherrv Valley, where his uncle, John Lindsay, of N^ew 
Hampshire, was at one time so large a land owner as 
to give to the place the local name of Lindsay's Bush. 
Having received a liberal education in the advanced 
schools of his native state and at Williams College, 
Dr. Lindsay in after years became a teacher to many 
of the younger people of the country who were ambi- 
tious of extending their studies beyond the rudimentary 
branches taught at that time in the schools of the neigh- 
borhood. 

In 1815, Frederick Bornt moved on a farm on the 
east side of Oneonta creek near the lower reservoir. 
He had been a soldier in the war of 1812, and had 
served at the battle of Plattsburg. He came from 
Rensselaer county, X. Y. 

Before the date last named, Jacob VanWoert, whose 
ancestors were from Holland, and father of the late 
Peter and John VanWoert, came from Albany and set- 
tled on the farm lately owned by his son Peter, near the 
mouth of the Otego creek. Asa Emmons about the same 
time settled on the south side of the river, near the 
Charlotte. He came from Vermont, and settled where 
Deacon Slade formerly lived. Jacob Wolf, the father 
of the late Conradt Wolf, had also made his home in 
the southern part of the town at about the close of tlie 
Pevolutionary war. ^Ir. Wolf had been taken as an 
Indian captive to Canada, where he had lieen detained 



34 HISTOKY OF ONEONTA. 

for several years. His home, when captured, was in the 
valley of the Mohawk. While extinguishing a fii-e 
which had caught in a tall hemlock, by night, he was sur- 
prised by a company of Indians, by whom he was easily 
overpowered. He at length escaped from his captors, 
and making his way southward, after a long and peril- 
ous journey, he met with friends on tlie Tioga river. 
He rejoined his wife on the Mohawk, and afterwards 
removed to the Sus<juehanna, on the farm now owned 
by George Swart, southwest of the village. 

Elihu Gifford, with four sons, came from Albany 
county in 1S<).">, and first settled at West Oneonta, on 
the farm lately owned by Joseph Taber, In 180C, 
]\fr. Gifford moved to the farm now o\TOed by Henry 
Gifford on the Oneonta creek. About the same time 
Josiah Peet and Ephriam Farrington moved into the 
same neighborhood. Later Col. Wm. Richardson 

settled further up the creek and ]»uilt a saw-mill and a 
grist-mill. "Richardson's Mills" became a well-known 
place in a few years, and a thriving hamlet soon began 
to form around them. Col. Richardson was an enter- 
prising man of business and took a ]n-omiiu'nt part in 
the affairs of the town. He scrx'ed in the war of 1812- 
15. 

When Elihu Gifford moved to tlic Oueouta creek 
there were only four "clearings" in that \alKy. A ^Ir. 
Armitage had made some inroads upon the wilderness, 
on what is now known as the Losee farm, bv the lower 



EARLY SETTLERS IN ONEONTA. 35 

rese^rvoir; Asel Marvin had made a clearing on the 
James Sheldon farm, and there were others on Mrs. 
Kiehardson's farm, and where Peter Yager formerly 
lived. The settlers along the Oneonta creek, after ^Ir. 
Marvin, moved in slowly. 

About 1804, David Yager came from Greenbnsh, I*^. 
Y., and purchased the farm now known as the Pet^r 
Yager farm. Solomon Yager, the father of David, 
came afterwards, purchasing his son's farm.* 

Timothy ]\[urphy, the famous scout, was at one time 
a resident of the to^^^l, his home then being on the South 
Side of the river on what is generally known as the 
Slade farm, nr>w owned by Rev. Granville Eathbun. 
He had served in the south as one of ^[organ's rifle- 
men. His first wife and her babe having been scalped 
by tlie savages near Schoharie, he became the implaca- 
ble foe of the Indians. He was a d firing and wary 
Irishman, and lost no opportunity to wreak vengeance 
upon theui, and liad many narrow esca])es. ^lurphy's 
exploits are rpiite fully set forth in the hi'^tories of 
Schoharie county. 

James ]\fcDonald settled at the lower end of the vil- 
lage at an early datx?. Mr. ^fcDonald was of Scotch 
descent, and an active business man. He was a descen- 
dant of the great clan that was broken in Scotland in 



*For the purpose of showing the increaao in the value of real 
estate, it may be mentioned that at the time David Yager sold 
to his father, he was offered a farm lying between Maple street 
and the farm of J. R. L. Walling, containing l.'SO acres, for $400. 



36 HISTORY OF ONEOXTA. 

1092. Families from this clan emigrated to Xova 
Scotia from whence representatives migrated to the col- 
ony of ]S^ew York early in the XVIII centnry. The 
original McDonald hotel is still standing on the north- 
west corner of ^lain and River streets, now transformed 
into a dwelling house. The lower part of the village 
was largely built through his enterprise, and at one 
time bid fair to become the business center of the vil- 
lage. He built a mill and hotel, and also became an 
extensive landowner. He kept the first post-office es- 
tablished within the limits of the town. 

The first settlers were mostly Gcrmau Palatinates 
from Sclioharie and the Mohawk. The German was 
the language of common conversation, and so continued 
until Dr. Lindsay and Asa Emmons came into the set- 
tlement. At this time the Ennnons and Lindsay fami- 
lies were the only ones that made the English their ex- 
clusive language. 

These German settlers were a ])atieut and persevei-- 
ing peojde, and betook themselves to the task of felling 
the fVn'est and rearing homes for themselves and their 
posterity, with a noble and praiseworthy resolution. 
Beneath the sturdy strokes of the axe, the wilderness 
slowly but gradually disap])eared around thi-ir rude 
homes, and in the place of the gloomy forest, fields of 
waving grain appeared on every side to cheer and en- 
courage the industrious woodsman. The forests 
abounded in the most ravenous animals, such as bears. 



EARI>Y SETTI.KKS IN OXEONTA. o7 

panthers, and wolves, while along the river and creek 
bottoms the ground was at places almost literally cov- 
ered with poisonous reptiles. The climate was severe, 
and the country remote from the frontier, yet notwith- 
standing the obstacles and discouragements that beset 
them, these were not sufficient to cause the settlers to 
relax their efforts to rear comfortable homes for their 
descendants. 

As the following extract from an old book vividly 
describes the perils and adventures of the pioneer hunt- 
ers, and conveys a good idea of some of tlio gnmo of the 
country, T have quoted freely: 

''Ben Wheaton was one of the tirst settlers on the 
waters of the Susquehanna, immediately after the war, 
a rough, uncultivated and primitive man. As many 
others of the same stamp and character, he subsisted 
chiefly by hunting, cultivating the land but sparingly, 
and in this way raised a numerous family amid the woods, 
in a half starved condition and comparative nakedness. 
But as the Susipichanna country rapidly increased in 
population, the lumting grounds of Wheaton were en- 
croached u}>on ; so that a chance with his smooth-bore, 
among tlie deer and bears was lessened. On this ac- 
count Wlioaton rruiovotl from the Sus(]uoliauun co\mtrv, 
in Otsego county, to the more unsettled wilds of Dela- 
ware, near a ])lace yet known by the appellation of 
Wait's Settlement, where game was more plenty. The 
distance from wliere he made his home in the woods, 



38 HISTORY OF ONEONTA. 

through to the Susquehanna, v>'as about fifteen miles, 
and was one continuous wihlerness at that time. 
Through these woods this almost aboriginal hunter was 
often compelled to pass t-o the Susquehanna, for various 
necessaries, and among the rest no small quantity of 
whiskey, as he was of very intemperate habits. On 
one of these visits, in the midst of summer, with his 
smooth-bore always on his shoulder, knife, hatchet, etc., 
in their proper place, he had nearly penetrated the dis- 
tance, when he became weary, and having come to the 
summit of a ridge (sometime in the afternoon) which 
overlooks the vale of the Susquehanna, he selected a 
convenient place in. the shade, as it was hot, for the rays 
of the sun from the west poured his sultry influence 
through all the forest, where he lay down to rest awhile 
among the leaves, after having taken a drink from his 
pint bottle of green glass, and a mouthful of cold 
Johnny cake from his pocket. 

*'In this situation he was soothed to drowsiness by 
the hum of insects, and the monotony of passing winds 
among the foliage around him, when he soon unwarily 
fell aslee]:i with his gun folded in his arms. But after 
a while he awoke from his sleep, and for a moment or 
two still lay in the same position, as it happened, with- 
out stirring, when he found that something had taken 
place while he had sle])t, which had situated him some- 
what differently from the nuuuier in which he first went 
to sleep. On reflecting a moment, he found that he was 



EARLY SETTLEKS I -\ OXEONTA. .'iO 

entirely covered over, lictul and ears, with leaves and 
light stuff, occasioned, as he now suspected, either by 
the sudden blowing of the wind, or by some wild animal. 
On which account he became a little disturbed in his 
mind, as he well knew the manner of the panther at 
that season of the year, when it hunts to support its 
yomig,and will often cover its prey with leaves and bring 
its whelps to the banquet. He therefore continued to 
lie perfectly still, as when he first awoke. lie thought 
he heard the step of some kind of heavy animal near 
him ; and he knew that if it were a panther, the distance 
between himself and death could not be far, if he should 
attempt to rise up. Accordingly, as he suspected, 
after having lain a full minute, he now distinctly heard 
the retiring tread of the stealthy panther, of which he 
had no doubt, from his knowledge of the creature's ways. 
It had taken but a few steps however, when it again 
stopped a longer time; still Wheaton continued his 
silent poRiti(m, knoAving his safety depended much on 
this. Soon the tread was again heard, farther and 
farther off, till it entirely died away in the distance, 
but he still lay motionless a few minutes longer, when he 
ventured gently and ca\itiously to raise his head and 
cast an eye in the direction tlie creature, whatever it 
was, had gone, but could see nothing. Tie now rose up 
with a spring, for his blood had been running from his 
heart to Ids extremities, and back again, with uncom- 
mon velocity: all the while his ears had listened to the 



40 HISTORY OF OXEOXTA. 

steps of the animal on the leaves and brush. He now 
saw plainly the marks of design among the leaves, and 
that he had been covered over, and that the paws of some 
creature had done it. 

"And as he suspected the panther was the animal, 
he knew it would soon return to kill him, on which ac- 
count he made haste to deceive it, and to put himself in 
a situation to give it a taste of the contents of old smooth- 
bore. He now seized upon some pieces of old wood 
wdiich lay all about, and placed as much as was equal to 
his OAvn biTlk, exactly where he had slept, and covered 
it over with leaves in the same manner the panther had 
done, and then sprang to a tree near by, into which he 
ascended, from whence he had a view a good distance 
about him, and especially in the direction the creature 
had gone. Here in the crotch of the tree he stood, 
with his gun resting across a limb, in the direction of 
the place where he had been left by the panther, looking 
sharply as far among the woods as possible, in the direc- 
tion he expected the creature's return. But he had re- 
mained in this condition but a short time, and liad 
barely thrust the ram-rod down the barrel of his piece, 
to be sure the charge was in her, and to examine her 
priming, and to shut down tlie ])an slowly, so that it 
should not snap, and thus make a noise, when his keen 
Indian eye, for such he had, caught a glimpse of a mon- 
strous panther, leading warily two panther kittens to- 
ward her intended supper. 



EARLY SETTLERS IN OXEONTA. 41 

''Xow matters were hastening to a climax rapidly, 
when Wheaton or the panther must finish their hunting 
on the mountains of the Susquehanna, for if old smooth- 
bore should flash in the pan, or miss her aim, the die 
would be cast, as a second load would be impossible ere 
her claAvs would have sundered his heart strings in the 
tree where he was, or if he should but partially wound 
her the same must have been his fate. During these 
thoughts the panther had hid her young under some 
brush, and had come within some thirty feet of the spot 
where she supposed her victim was still sleeping; and 
seeing all as she had left it, she dropped down to a 
crouching position, precisely as a cat, when about to 
spring on its prey. Xow was seen the soul of the panther 
in its perfection, emerging from the recesses of nature 
where hidden by the creator, along the whole nervous 
system, but resting chiefly in the brain, whence it glared, 
in bright horror,from the burning eyes, curled in the 
strong and vibrating tail, pushed out the sharp, white 
and elliptical fangs from the broad and powerful claws 
ready for rending, glittered on the points of its uncov- 
ered teeth, and smoked in rapid tissues of steam from 
its red and open jaws, while every hair of its long dun 
back stood erect in savage joy, denoting that the fatal 
and decisive moment of its leap had come. 

''iSTow the horrid nestling of its hinder claws, drawn 
under its belly was heard, and the bent ham-strings were 
seen but a half instant by Wheaton, from where he sat 



42 HISTOKY OF ONEOXTA. 

ill his tree, when the tremeiidoiis leap was made. It 
rose on a L:»ng curve in the air, of ahout ten feet in the 
highest place, and from thence descending", it struck ex- 
actly where the breast, head and bowels of its prey had 
lain, with a scream too horrible for description, when 
it tore to atoms the rotten wood, tilling for several feet 
above it, the air with the leaves and light brush, the 
covering of the deception. But instantly the panther 
found herself cheated, and seemed to droop a little with 
disappointment, when however she resumed an erect 
posture, and surveyed quite aromid on every side on a 
horizontal line, in search of her prey, but not discovering 
it, she cast a furious look aloft among the tops of the 
trees, when in a moment or two the eyes of Wheaton and 
the panther met. ^ow for another leap, when she 
dropped for that purpose ; but the bullet and two buck 
shot of old smooth-bore were too quick, as he lodged them 
all exactly in the brain of the savage monster, and 
stretched her dead on the spot where the hunter had 
slept but a short time before, in the soundness of a 
mountain dream. 

"Wheaton had marked the spot where her young were 
hidden, which, -at the report of the gun, were frightened 
and ran up a tree. He now came down and found the 
panther to measure, from the end of its nose to the 
point of its tail, eight feet six inches in length ; a crea- 
ture sufficiently strong to have carried him off on a full 
run, had he fallen into its power, lie now reloaded 



EARLY SETTI>P:RS IN ONKONTA. 43 

and went to tlio tree where her kittens, or the young 
panthers Mere, and soon bronglit them down from their 
grapple among the limbs, companions for their con- 
quered and slain parent. 

*'Wheaton dismantled them of their hides, and 
hastened away before the night should set in, lest some 
other encounter might overtake him of a similar charac- 
ter, when the disadvantage of darkness might decide 
the victory in a way more advantageous to the roamers 
of the forest. Of this feat Ben Wheaton never ceased 
to boast; reciting it as the most appalling passage of 
his hunting life. The animal had found him while 
asleep and had him concealed, as he supposed, intending 
to give her young a specimen of the manner of their 
future life; or if this is too much for the mind of a 
dumb animal, she intended to give them a supper. 

''This circumstance was all that saved his life, or the 
panther would have lea])t upon him at first, and have 
torn him in pieces, instead of covering him with leaves 
as she did, for the sake of her young. The i)aiither is 
a ferocious and almost untamable animal, whose nature 
and habits are like those of the cat; except that the 
nature and powers of this domestic creature are in the 
panther immensely mag-nified, in strength and voracity. 
It is in the American forest what the tiger is in Africa 
and India, a dangerous and savage animal, the terror 
of all other creatures, as well as of the Indian and the 
white man." 



44 HISTORY OF oxp:oxta. 

Other famous hunters Averc Michael Ililsinger, oue 
Mayall, and Tice Conse. MayalFs hunting exploits 
were mainly along the Otego creek, though some of his 
aclventures took him far up and down the Susquehanna 
valley. Couse's field of operation sometimes extended 
far over into Delaware county. Hilsinger on one oc- 
casion had a narrow escape in a conflict with a large 
black bear in the ravine along Silver creek. In this 
fight the hunter was drawn into deep water and had 
dropped his gun and came out victorious only by the use 
of his hunting knife with which he despatched the bear. 

Another old timer was David T. Evans, who came to 
Oneonta in 1829 from Washington county. Dr. Evans 
as he was called, was a well-known character of local 
fame as a story teller, who was Avont to regale evening- 
audiences in the village stores with his wonderful tales. 



CHAPTER III. 

PROMINENT :\IEX OF THE TOWN. 

IT is imjwssible to mention tlio names of all of the early 
business men of the village, but it is only just that 
their names should be carriefl flown to the genera- 
tions that are to come : 

Prominent among the early settlers of Oneonta was 
Jacob Dietz, who removed into the settlement from 
Schoharie county about the year 1804. ]\Ir. Dietz was 
early appointed a justice of the peace, and continued 
in office either by appointment or election for a great 
length of time. He was a long time in mercantile 
business, and his store, which was situated where now 
stands the First National Bank block, was the center 
of a lively trade for those times. Mr. Dietz accumu- 
lated an extensive estate, and reared a largo family 
of children. He became the owner of extensive tracts 
of land, some of which are now occupied by the streets 
and residences of the village. 

About the same period, 1804-5, one Joseph Westcott, 
from the present to^^^l of Milford, erected a store nearly 
opposite the residence of R. W. Miller. These stores — 
Dinninny's, mentioned in the preceding chapter, Dietz's 
and Westcott's — were all of the most primitive order. 



46 IIISTOltY OF OX EON T A. 

and contained but a meagre stock of goods. There was 
but little money and the merchants' trade was carried 
on mostly in the way of barter, the tradesman ex 
changing his merchandise for grain, lumber and shin- 
gles. 

Early in the history of the town, a ]\Ir. Walling, 
the grandfather of the late J. R. L. Walling, located 
to the east of Oneonta creek, near where his descendant 
above named formerly resided. One Xewkirk also 
settled on Chestnut street, on the lot adjoining the home 
of L. B. Lennon. Lawrence Swart settled on the farm 
now occupied by Henry Wilcox, about the same time 
that Jacob Dietz came into the settlement. 

At the time of Swart's settlement the land on the 
lower end of River street was covered by a dense forest 
of hemlock and maple. Over those attractive and well- 
tilled fields now composing the Henry Wilcox farm, 
roamed at that time the bear and the panther, and 
glided with little molestation numberless rattlesnakes 
of the largest and most poisonous species. The set- 
tlement along the river, below the Scramling residence, 
seemed to proceed slowly, as the land below this point 
w^as considered of but little value, while the heavy 
growth of hemlock precluded the rapid clearing away 
of the forest. To the north and east of the village the 
hillsides yielded a vast quantity of the more valuable 
timber. 

Amono' the earlv irdiabitauts of Ouonutn, whose en- 



PKOMINKXT MEX OF THK TOWN. 4( 

terprise contributed to the development of tlie resources 
of the toAMi, was William Angell, who soon after his 
settlement here became the most prominent inhabitant 
of the villap:e. He built the Oneonta House, where 
he acted as host for a number of years. He was also 
one of the ]-»ro]">rietors of the Charlotte turnpike, which, 
upon its completion in 1834, was made the gi-eat hijjh- 
■\vay from Catskill to the southwestern portion of the 
state. 

Timothy Sabiu, a native of the to\ni, upon arriving; 
at the ag-e of manliood, embarked in mercantile pur- 
suits, and continued to an advanced age to lend his 
aid to the management of an extensive bnsiness. An- 
other of the older class of men of the village was John 
M. Watkins, born in Oneonta in 1806. For thirty 
years Mr. Watkins was one of the leading hotel keepers 
of the village, and during this long period in which he 
acted the part of host, his house was known far and wide 
as the best kept hostelry in this section. 

Occupying a prominent position among those who, 
at an early date, emigrated into the t/^wn was Eliakim 
R. Ford. Mr, Ford was born in Albany county in 
1797, and removed to Greenville, Greene county, when 
quite young. From the latter place he removed to 
Oneonta in 1822, he then being twenty-five years of 
age. He at once embarked in mercantile enterprises 
and so conducted his business matters as to rapidly 
win both the confidence and trade of his fellow citizens. 



48 HISTORY OF OXEOXTA. 

His first store stood near the Free Baptist church. Froiu 
that point he removed to a store next to the lot where 
now the Stanton block stands, and in 1828 he again 
moved into a store which he had built near the residence 
of Harvey Baker. His late residencewas bnilt in 1839- 
40. 

Dr. Samuel H. Case settled in the village of Oneonta 
in 1829. He was born in Franklin, K Y., in 1808, 
and at the age of twenty-one was graduated at the med- 
ical college at Fairfield, jST. Y. More than sixty 
years he continued the practice of medicine in the vil- 
lage and throughout the surrounding country. There 
are but few among the longer resident population of 
the community wdio have not, at one time or another, 
been under the Doctor's treatment. When he moved 
into the village, the latter contained only two painted 
houses, and the whole business prosperity of the ham- 
let was then centered in two stores — Dietz's and Ford's 
— one potash and two distilleries. 

Though not a resident of the town, yet his business 
relations were such as to identify the name of Jared 
Goodyear with its history. Mr. Goodyear for a long 
term of years resided upon the borders of Oneonta, and 
from an early period was largely interested in the busi- 
ness of the village. He was born in Connecticut, and 
while a boy removed to Schoharie county, whence he 
came to Colliersville while yet a young man, and there 
he resided the romaiuder of his life. By persistent 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE TOWN. 49 

industry Mr. Goodyear accumulated a large fortune, 
and won a high reputation for integrity. 

Harvey Baker, coming from Broome county, early 
identified himself with the business interests of the 
community. For more than sixty years he resided here 
and took an active part in whatever work tended to the 
advancement of the public welfare. With others he 
was of great assistance in the long struggle that pre- 
ceded the completion of the Albany and Susquehanna 
railroad. 

William McCrum has passed most of a long life- 
time here, and has always been interested in the pros- 
perity of the people and their social advancement. Mr. 
McCrum came here in 1839 from Hobart, Delaware 
county, his birth-place. 

About the last named date William W. Snow came 
here from his birth-place in Franklin county, Mass. 
He became a prominent figure among his fellow men, 
and was at different periods their representative in con- 
gress and the State legislature. 

Solon Huntington, from Huntington, Conn., settled 
here in 1840. Soon after he was joined by his brother, 
Collis P. Huntington. Solon became an extensive land 
owner, while the two were engaged in various manufac- 
turing works and also as merchants in a general coun- 
try store, until the departure of Collis P. for California 
in 1850. For some years the Huntington brothers were 
in the merchantile business in the building knoAvn as 



50 HISTORY OF OXEOXTA. 

the Mendel store. After the departure of Collis P. for 
California, Solon became largely engaged in agricul- 
ture, having become the owner of extensive tracts of 
land in and about this to^vn. C. P. Huntington early 
became interested in the development of the Pacific 
coast. He, associated with others, built the Central 
Pacific and the Southern Pacific railroads. He was also 
largely engaged in ship building and in the management 
of various steamboat lines. Representatives of IMr. Hunt- 
ington are still carrying out the work of developing the 
railway system of California. 

Among the settlers on the east side of Otego creels; on 
the road leading to Laurens was Ezra White, who be- 
came a resident early in the last century. Joseph 
Hodge came from Washington county in 1804, and be- 
came an inhabitant of the same neighborhood. There 
some of his descendants still reside. 

Ezra Gates and Stoughton Alger were pioneer farm- 
ers at the Plains. 

The father of the late Samuel Richards from the East 
established a home near the Plains where afterwards a 
number of his decendants became largely interested in 
farming and mechanical pursuits. 

Among the early settlers on the south side of the Sus- 
quehanna was James Blanchard,who was a sturdy native 
of New England. He was the father of twelve children, 
one of whom was missed at roll call and was afterwards 
found asleep between the rows in the potato field. The 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE TOWN, 51 

father then instructed the mother to carefully count 
them over every evening. They all became progenitors 
of a good class of citizens. 

A worthy settler on the Plains road was Orrin Beach, 
who came from Jefferson, K. Y., in 1840, His descen- 
dants continued to occupy the same farm for many 
years. 




CHAPTER IV. 



PIONEER EXPERIENCES. 



REVERTING to earlier times, I find in "Priest's 
Collection" already cited, a narrative of much in- 
terest relative to the experiences of a pioneer 
family in the Susquehanna valley. They were located, 
apparently, some miles further down the river; but the 
scenes and events described might as well have been 
witnessed here. As the book is rare, I give liberal quo- 
tations, thinking I could not better serve the reader, in 
whose further interest I have here and there condensed 
and rearranged somewhat: 

"The shortness of the time between the arrival of the 
family and the setting in of winter prevented the build- 
ing of a larger and better house. During the severe 
weather following they became experimentally ac- 
quainted with cold, hunger and a variety of sorrows, 
known only to pioneers of an entire new country. Money 
was of but little use, as food was not to be bought where 
there was none for sale. There were but five families 
in the whole community, who having come in the spring 
of the same season, therefore had time to raise but lit- 
tle. To procure food from a distance was also ex- 
tremely difficult, there being no settlement where it could 
be had nearer than old Schoharie, about t;evoutv-five 



54 HISTORY OF ONEONTA. 

miles away, to which ph^ce at that time the road was 
not much better than none at all. This dreadful winter 
at last passed away, and with it, in a measure, their 
sufferings; as by this time they had learned of the In- 
dians how to catch fish, which abounded in the river, 
coves and creeks of the country. Without this relief 
they must have finally perished. 

"But now a new scene of things, such as I had never be- 
fore witnessed,"says Mrs. Priest."was about to captivate 
our attention. March had began to yield its rains ; the 
snow to feel its dissolving power ; every rill and creek of 
the mountains to swell and roar, plunging forward over 
crag and cleft to the vales below. The devious Susque- 
hanna began to put on majesty, drinking largely of its 
annual libation from earth and sky, swelling the head- 
long waters, which as they rose lifted and tore away 
the ice from the shores and promontories. Loud sounds 
were heard to moan along the thick-ribbed ice, the cov- 
ering of the waters bursting in ten thousand places with 
the noise of tempests. Already the banks were over- 
flown, and the distant forests of the flats along the river 
inundated with the sweeping flood, to the very base of 
the hills. The broken ice began to move, large islands 
of it to rush upon each other, still breaking more and 
more, urging its way forward with resistless fury. Now 
the roar increases, large fields of ice plunge into the 
woods on either shore; the trees beuding, groan and 
snap asunder beneath the overwhelming load,the ice still 



PIONEER EXPEKIENCES. 55 

passing on till throwTi in huge heaps along the shore and 
in the adjacent woods. Still the main stream pursues its 
way ; every moment adds to the enormous weight it bears. 
As far as the eye can view, from the tops of commanding 
eminences, above, below, all in commotion, plunging on- 
ward with a loud and steady roar, till stayed on some 
long level in the river. Here it makes a stand, or but 
slowly moves ; as a vast army on the verge of battle, 
which halts to adjust its prowess, then to move on again. 
So the river in its grandeur resumed its course a mo- 
ment, while from shore to shore the ice stood piled in 
pyramids, chafing up and down as if in anger. But 
now the level narrows to a defile between the mountains, 
when all at once the mass for many miles above, with 
whirling eddies stood at bay. ISTow suddenly the waters 
rise and boil and foam through all the heaps and ranks 
of massive ice. The upper floods having gathered head, 
urge on with augmented power the water's course. All 
at once the frozen dam gives way and rushes on with 
sound of thunder. Fury and desolation mark its pro- 
gress, trees torn from their roots lunge here and there; 
old timber with fences swept from the fields and woods 
mingle in the ruin. Onward roars the unconquered 
deluge, from Otsego lake to where the frightful Caugh- 
nawaga dashes to foam the descending river with the 
subdued and shivered ice which ends the scene. 

''The sun had gained in this month,the month of 
Mfirch, a higher northern altitmh', throwing his fiery 



56 HISTORY OF ONEONTA. 

beams tlirongh all the frozen woods by day, while by night 
the chill of the frost resumed its sway. Thus alternate 
between the powers above and the powers below, the 
juices of the maple were made to flow, when was com- 
menced the curious and arduous work of manufacturing- 
maple sugar. A more pleasing sight than an extensive 
sugar works, filling by its various branches of operation 
that space of time with profit and pleasure between the 
ending of winter and the blooming spring, is not wit- 
nessed in a new country. To see from a thousand trees 
at once of the majestic rock maple the lucious juice 
streaming as from so many fountains, is highly delight- 
ful, especially to the isolated backwoodsman; as well 
as profitable. So it proved to the family of Beach, who 
were in want of all things. 

"But soon this scene had passed away, when May and 
June, with their ten thousand blossoms, decked the earth. 
Here flourished the mountain laurel, over entire ranges 
of the mountains, which in time of spring is thickly set 
with flowers, covering the evergreen limbs and leaves 
of the shrub with an immensity of red and white. This 
bramble has become the emblem of honor, and as such 
in ancient times encircled the brows of kings and heroes, 
because it is an evergreen. On the plains, among the 
sweet fern, grew a beautiful flower called the honey- 
suclde. The banks of the river and margins of lesser 
streams, were in many places adorned with the water 
pink (cardinal ?) a flower of the deepest red that grows 



PIONEEE EXPERIENCES. 57 

ou nature's commons. The scarlet wild balm of the 
alluvials stood in groups here and there, protected by 
the warrior nettle, well knowm to the bare-legged and 
bare-footed boys of those early times. The wild lily 
of the hills, meadows and marshes bowed here and there 
its maculate head, which, while it attracts the eye, im- 
presses the mind with a solitary yet tender emotion. 
In shady and secluded places grew a beautiful flower, 
variagated with stripes of white, red and yellow, having 
in shape a surprising resemblance to a real lady's slip- 
per. In marshy places were entire patches of the gol- 
den cowslip, the herb of which furnishes a gentle re- 
past, not to be rejected by even the sumptuous tables 
of luxury. 

"The boxwood (dogwood?), a tree known to ancient 
and to modern artists as a wood valuable for musical in- 
struments, was seen as a stranger enlivening the gloom 
of the mountains, with a redundancy of its large white 
blossoms. The mountain ash was found in the dreary 
swamps of cold and elevated lands, the slender branches 
of which are beautifully ornamented with thick clusters 
of scarlet berries, and are in the height of perfection in 
the depth of winter, forming a delightful contrast with 
the whiteness of the virgin snows. 

"Here were various nut-bearing trees, as the butternut, 
the chestnut, the walnut, and the beechnut, growing on 
the highland ridges and in the vales, furnishing food 
and luxury during the evenings of the long winter 



58 HISTORY OF OXEONTA. 

nights. The grape vine was also found climbing the 
tallest trees, and winding its tendrils among the 
branches of the forest. 

"At this time a certain root, now almost, if not quite 
extinct, grew in abundance on the richest soils along the 
shores of rivers and creeks, which came early in the 
summer to perfection ; this was the leeh, and for aught 
we know was the famous Egyptian leek, and to the first 
settlers was of great use, being in no sense inferior to the 
onion, except in size. Another root which, when 
roasted, was also good for food, was the ground-nut, 
(wild bean), about the size of a large musket ball, and 
grew abundantly in the mellow soil of the river flats, in 
a wild state. This, too, is now nearly extinct. In some 
places were found a few wild plums, brought no doubt 
from the far west, by the Indians, where they flourish 
abundantly. Mandrakes, a fruit now but little known, 
was then exceedingly abundant, growing on a plant 
about a foot high, bearing but one apple ; but this, when 
fully ripe, was highly palatable and good, as a transient 
luxury. 

"A multitude of berries, of the most delicious flavor, 
grew here without end. The whortle berry was chief, 
as to quantity, covering entire tracts of mountain and 
plain of a certain description of soil, furnishing both to 
men and animals, especially the bear, a good and nu- 
tritious food. But besides these there was, and still is, 
the hlacl-hcrry , the raspberry of various kinds, the goose- 



PIONEER EXPEEIENCES. 59 

berry, with the wild currant ; all of which are delicious, 
and to the first settlers were a grateful relief in the hour 
of hunger, during the season which produces them, 

"At the opening of the spring innumerable birds car- 
olled from the budding branches of the woods, while ten 
thousand came flying from the south of such kinds as 
follow the mild temperature, between cold and heat. Of 
such is the pigeon, countless millions of which came on 
the winds, stretching their feathery battallions across 
the whole arch of heaven and filling the wilderness with 
the cheerful cry of "tweet, tweet," as if they called for 
wheat, their favorite food. These little innocents, sent 
of heaven to supply their wants amid the solitudes of 
the west, after the horrors of such a winter, were received 
at that time with shouts and gladness. The net, the gun, 
with every other means which the hungry ingenuity of 
the inhabitants could invent, were employed to ensnare 
them. Ducks of several kinds, flying up and down the 
river, enlivened the scene ; settling now and then in the 
eddies of the stream. The mountain partridge, the 
wildest bird among the fowls of heaven, was heard to 
drum, sitting upon its chosen log, with beating wings, 
which quiver in the wind not less rapid than those of 
the burnished humming-bird. 

"At this season of the year (March and April), large 
flocks of the wild goose or brant, high soaring in the air, 
passed onward in the forked shape of the farmer's drag, 
following the scream of the parent leader, on their an- 



60 HISTORY OF ONEONTA. 

nual jaunt from the islands of the sea to the north and 
western lakes. These sometimes by a messenger from 
the sharp, quick-spoken rifle, were briefly invited to 
descend from the fields above, laden with flesh and 
feathers, plump and fair, a dainty good enough for 
kings. 

"Even the night was not without its music; as the 
sweet but lonesome whip-poor-will sung in all directions 
its three-syllabled song, of ''whip-poor-will, whip-poor- 
will" till morning light. Then hooted the owl, a bird 
famous among the Greeks for wisdom, the sound of 
whose voice is better far than no noise at all, and be- 
speaks by its gruff and far-sounding tones a race of 
feathered giants, peopling the tree tops of the highest 
mountains, as well as the deepest glens. 

"In those early times, before the Susquehanna was 
interrupted by mill-dams, and its lucid waters be- 
clouded with sawdust, it abounded with shad, from the 
sea. These, seeking the still, deep waters of Otsego 
lake — where to hide their incipient millions, the em- 
bryo children for another year's generation — the first 
settlers, without the common seine, contrived to take 
in the following singular manner: A whole neighbor- 
hood of the inhabitants would join together, and select 
some island situated near the middle of the river, with 
a low, gravelly beach, extending some way up the stream. 
At the upper end of this they would drive down into the 
sand and gravel a row of large stakes, in a circle of 



PIONEER EXPERIENCES. 61 

sufficient circumference to enclose a rod square of space. 
At the upper side of this space a door was left open, 
looking up the stream. Between these stakes, which 
rose two and three feet above the level of the water, 
they wove from the bottom to their tops small green 
bushes close together, so that a shad of the smallest 
size could not pass through. Then from both sides 
of the door was driven a row of stakes extending quite 
to both shores of the river, running in a slanting direc- 
tion up the stream ; between these also was woven green 
bushes in the same manner, as the pound or circle, des- 
tined to receive the shad. When this was finished the 
whole company, consisting of fifteen, twenty or thirty, 
as the case might be, went all together several miles up 
the river to a convenient still, deep place, where they 
as quickly as possible constructed a huge bush fence 
extending quite across the river, made of the green 
bushes of the woods, fastening it firmly toc^ether ; this 
they called a bush seine. It was then loosened from 
the shores and dragged down the stream, the water above 
being filled with canoes, men, boys, and dogs ; hallooing, 
barking, yelling, and splashing in the water, making 
as much noise as possible. By this means the shad were 
frightened, and turned down the river, while on fol- 
lowed the seine toward the winged enclosure. In 
passing over the rifts or shallows, the frightened fishes 
were frequently seen tumbling over each other, flapping 
and floundering to get into deeper water. Soon the 



62 HISTOKY OF ONEONTA. 

floating winrow of wood was driven on between the 
spreading wings of the weir, as it was called — which 
had caused the waters to rise a foot or two within — 
doubling as it was forced between the wings, concentrat- 
ing a mass of brush, canoes, boys, dogs, and men, inclos- 
ing sometimes several hundred shad in the fatal pen. 
Here leaping in among them head and ears, the fishes 
were thrown on the dry beach, where they were placed 
in as many heaps as there were sharers, when one of 
the number turned his back and cried them off, as it 
was said to him, "Who shall have this ?" and "Who shall 
this ?" till the whole was disposed of, which ended the 
fishing expedition, when they dispersed to their several 
homes to enjoy the fruit of their labor. 

"By the second year after their arrival. Beach and 
his family had made considerable improvement upon 
his lands. A variety of the rewards of husbandry 
were springing from the soil, promising in the autumn 
an abundant recompense for their labor. They had 
among the variety of the field a beautiful plot of flax, 
from which they expected to replenish their clothing, 
which was now nearly worn out. The family felt now 
a tolerable assurance that the period of their privations 
was near its close, for the time of gathering in the pro- 
duce, above alluded to, had nearly arrived. But that 
their wishes should be consummated, was not the will 
of heaven. 

"On the sixth of October, the winds began to blow 



PIONEER EXT'ERIENCES. 63 

from the south. Presently the rain began to dash in 
slanting torrents to the earth. Soon, however, the wind 
which was furious, veered around and blew from the 
north, when the clouds seemed a little disposed to scat- 
ter. This was cheering, for on the coming up of the 
storm they had feared an immediate inundation of all 
their fields, which lay on the margin of the river, the 
bank of which w^as very low. But this respite proved 
of short duration ; for soon the whirling clouds resumed 
their blackness and again poured dowTi their over- 
whelming waters. The small brooks and rills rapidly 
swelling, came tumbling from the mountains. Night 
set in and hid by its terrible darkness the devastation 
and danger. But sleep, says Mrs. Priest, came not to 
her eyelids. All night she watched the progress of the 
rising waters, frequently loosening the batteau and 
canoe, till by daylight they were moored at the thresh- 
hold of the door, which ascertained at least a rise of 
water full ten feet in a few hours. The utmost of their 
fears was now realized, as they were entirely surrounded 
by the overflowing river, the house being on the highest 
ground. Their fields lay whelmed beneath the flood, 
while the brown deluge passed by with dreadful roar- 
ing, bearing on its bosom huge trees, drift- wood, and 
stacks of hay which had been gathered on the little mea- 
dows above ; wheat and rye in the sheaf, pumpkins and 
flax torn up by the roots, — all afloat in one promiscu- 
ous ruin. The rain subsided, the waters fell, the 



64 HISTORY OF ONEONTA. 

fields appeared again ; but all was lost. 

"We now/'says Mrs. Priest,"be took ourselves to gather 
what we could from among the mud and sand, from the 
willows and flood-wood along the banks of the river, 
which was our only hope against another dreadful win- 
ter. As for me, I found myself nearly destitute of 
clothing and saw no way but to leave my home in quest 
of work, to earn among strangers the habiliments and 
comforts of life. But whither could I go ? There were 
none living near but were in a similar situation with 
myself, and had lost their all in the same way; and 
could not therefore employ me, either to their own ad- 
vantage or mine. Accordingly, in company with my 
father, I went very soon after this occurrence in a canoe 
up the river, toward the place now called Cooperstown, 
in quest of employment. A few miles below this place 
lived a family with whom my father was acquainted, 
whose circumstances in life were independent; whore, 
through his influence, I obtained a temporary home. 

"After awhile I left this place, and went further 
toward the Mohawk in quest of another. The day on 
which I left this family was a gloomy one, for it snowed 
fast and the distance to which I wished to go was 
twenty miles — the place now known as Cherry Valley. 
The way was chiefly through woods, where there were 
no inhabitants on the road. I set out on horseback, 
but alone. Many were the sad reflections which passed 
my mind at this time ; as I remembered the comforts 



PIONEER EXPERIENCES. 65 

of former days in the land of my nativity, old Connec- 
ticut. During these reflections, while descending along 
the deep, narrow snow path down a steep hill to a hem- 
lock gulf, the gloom of which approached nearly to that 
of night, suddenly a monstrous wolf darted into the 
road, and stopped just before me. I knew not what 
to do; terror in an instant had frozen all my powers, 
80 that I was nearly past feeling. It glared upon me 
a few moments, then slowly retired into the woods, 
constantly looking back, as if hesitating whether to at- 
tack or flee. At length I came to the little settlement 
where so much was endured from the knife and toma- 
hawk of the Indians in the Revolution." At Cherry 
Valley Mrs. Priest met Judge Isaac Parris, living 
"about two hours' ride" toward the Mohawk. With 
his family she passed the next six months, when news 
of the sudden death of her father, by drowning, re- 
called her to the home clearing on the Susquehanna. 
Continues the narrative: 

"After a settlement of my accounts with this worthy 
family (that of Judge Parris), I took my leave, when 
they bestowed the sum of eight dollars over and above 
my proper wages, as a token of the interest they took 
in my afflictions. On my way to the head of Otsego 
lake (to Springfield), I bought a bushel of wheat, and 
got it floured there ; where I also procured a passage in 
a batteau down the lake and river, being an unexpected 
opportunity, which was a distance of fifty miles to where 



66 HISTORY OF OXEONTA. 

my mother was. On the tliird day I came within sight 
of my home. 

"'I found them as I anticipated, entirely destitute of 
bread, and therefore hastened to relieve them with the 
flour I had provided. But on opening the sack, what 
was my surprise to find that the unprincipled miller 
had taken one-half of it and substituted in its place 
Indian meal ; which, notwithstanding, made very good 
bread, yet afforded on that account no apology for the 
miller, as on his part it was an absolute theft. They 
were also nearly destitute of clothes; on which account 
I lingered not to distribute among them those I had pro- 
cured during my eight months servitude, two months 
at the first place and six at the home of Judge Parris. 
A few days only passed after my return when my 
mother began to be more resigned and cheerful ; new 
hope sprung up from the encouragement of conversa- 
tion, and from my exertions to make them more com- 
fortable. However it was evident that a settled mel- 
ancholly had seized her for its victim, which never left 
her till it ended in complete distraction; out of which 
she finally emerged, but not until her last sickness, 
when the one fixed and direful thought, leading her to 
despair of final salvation, was suddenly extinguished 
by strong and certain hope of eternal happiness through 
the great Redeemer." 

The want of grist-mills was a privation of no small 
magnitude, to the first settlers of the Susquehanna. 



PIONEER EXPERIENCES. 



67 



One story of hardship arising out of this circumstance 
will illustrate perhaps hundreds of like nature. Hav- 
ing for a long time made bread from corn pounded in 
a mortar, the family greatly coveted meal of a better 
quality, and hearing that some six or eight miles down 
the river was a mill newly built, they were anxious if 
possible to carry a little grain to be floured. Accord- 
ingly the eldest brother, a lad of about fifteen, under- 
took to carry on his back three pecks of corn to this 
mill, as from the time of the father's death all kinds of 
hardship incident to the care of the family had fallen 
to the share of this boy. 

There was no road to the place, except the Indian 
path, which for ages had been the highway of warriors 
and hunters. The way was a gloomy one, being wholly 
through the woods, and accompanied by a circumstance 
which heightened in the child's imagination the ter- 
rors of the journey. The path led exactly by a certain 
tree, called the White Man's tree, where in the time of 
the Revolution the Indians had burnt a prisoner whom 
they had taken, the remembrance of which was painted, 
or stained, after the Indian manner, on the side of the 
tree. It was an elm, and was preserved many years 
after the country was settled as a memento of the trag- 
ical affair. It stood at the lower end of what is called 
the dug-way, immediately above the bridge which crosses 
the Susquehanna, near the upper end of the village 
called Unadilla. The ignorant, the superstitious, and 



68 HISTORY OF ONEONTA. 

children on passing this tree never failed to fear lest 
the victim's spirit might appear. 

Now as poor Richard drew near and still nearer this 
tree the more its dread increased upon him, till he fan- 
cied that in reality he saw something stir close by its 
roots. He now stood still, straining his eyes to unde- 
ceive himself if possible. But to no purpose; there 
certainly was something, and that something had motion. 
The more he looked, the more it seemed like a man. 
He now had thoughts of returning, it seeming impossi- 
ble for him to approach, as the thing which seemed to 
be alive and had motion might' be the ghost. If it was, 
he thought he should die if he spoke to it, or that some 
strange thing would certainly befall him. But rather 
than to give up his expedition in hope of obtaining some 
meal, he adventured slowly and cautiously a little 
nearer. Ere he was aware he trod on a dry stick, 
which broke, when in an instant the face of a man 
looked upon him and slowly rose to the height of a tall 
person. Richard now had no doubt but this was the 
soul of the burnt man; which so flurried his sight and 
confused his thought that it prevented his perceiving 
it to be a very aged Indian. 

"The Indian, perceiving that the boy was frightened, 
spoke to him in English, in a good natured voice, and 
told him to come to him, as he would not hurt him. 
Richard now went boldly up to him, being naturally a 
stout-hearted boy, yet not witliout some trepidation. 



PIONEER EXPERIENCES. t>» 

"Sit down," said the Indian to the boy; "Me tell you 
something. See this tree ?" and here he pointed to the 
painted marks on the smooth spot, where the bark had 
been removed for that purpose long before by the hatchet 
of the Indians; "Me cut that, me paint him, too. A 
hundred moons ago (about nine years), me, twenty In- 
dians more, come through woods from Sopus country, 
North river — have five prisoner, tied hands behind 'em. 
One man get way, when all sleep, stole gun — five In- 
dians follow him. We hear gun shoot, one Indian 
fall dead. Pretty soon 'nother gun shoot, ]S^other Indian 
fall dead. Me see him, me shoot — broke him leg — 
carry him back — tie him to tree — burn him to Great 
Spirit. His name Coons, Dutchmans. We go on to 
Canada. Me now go Canada forever, pretty soon." 
Here they parted, the boy to the mill, the lone Indian 
to his fellows. 

"It was late in the fall. Poor Richard was literally 
clothed in rags, with nothing but some cloth moc- 
casins on his feet, although there was then on the 
ground quite a flurry of snow. But he shouldered his 
bag and about twelve o'clock arrived safely at the mill. 
What was his disappointment on perceiving it to be a 
mere temporary thing, placed over a small rivulet, not 
capable of turning a wheel larger than a common grind- 
stone. On application to the proprietor to knoAV if he 
would grind the corn,. he received for answer: "No, it 
is impossible; you see the stone is but a small and poor 



70 



HISTORY OF OXEONTA. 



one, which I have in the most miserable manner cut 
out of that rock there, and it will take all day to grind 
your grist; I cannot do it." 

"This answer so discomfited and grieved Richard that 
he cried very much, all the while pleading with the man 
to grind his corn for him, as it was too hard to be obliged 
to carry it back in the same state he brought it, and dis- 
appoint his mother and the children, who had tasted no 
good bread for a great while. At length the man was 
moved with pity, and told him he would try. The mill 
was set in motion and the grain poured into the hopper, 
when he waited the residue of that day, all night, and 
till near noon the next day before the corn was ground. 
He now shouldered the precious burden and retraced 
his way. It was nearly night when he was heard to 
halloo to be brought over the river in the canoe. One 
of his feet was naked, having worn out the moccasin 
and left it on the way. He was nearly exhausted, 
having ate nothing from the time he left home till his 
return— two days and a night— except the raw meal 
from the bag; as the miller, either from neglect or hard- 
ness of heart, had offered him nothing, and he was too 
stouthearted to ask for any. 

"In those early times, very soon after the Revolution, 
the Indians were troublesome ; not so much so on account 
of any hostile disposition, as from their strange man- 
ners and customs— a notable specimen of which was 
given at a certain time when several tribes had met in 



PIONEER EXPERIENCES. 71 

the very neighborhood which constituted our little com- 
munity. These were the Oneidas, Onondagas, and 
Tuscaroras, who had met at this place by the appoint- 
ment of certain land speculators who had purchased 
of the Indians a tract somewhere in this region. They 
were here to receive their pay in specie, from the hands 
of one McMaster, the agent of the purchasing company. 

''During their stay among us there was one continued 
scene, night and day, of yelling and confusion; pow- 
wows, fighting, rough-and-tumble, leaping, and shoot- 
ing at a mark, with both arrows and guns — which con- 
stituted their sports. Their fires illuminated the woods 
during the night; around which several tribes agreea- 
ble to their own customs, slept or celebrated the warlike 
deeds of their ancestors, in their war songs and dances, 
which were accompanied with the indescribable ges- 
tures of Indian education and devotion called the ''pow- 
wows." And however wild and fantastic they may ap- 
pear to the white man, yet to them tliose songs, dances, 
and terrifying attitudes are, and always have been, the 
solemn and only modes by which traditionary accounts 
of former ages — their origin, deeds of fame, mighty 
battles, conquering or conquered, and of their continu- 
ance on the earth, the earth's origin, their belief in the 
Great Spirit — were handed down, from generation to 
generation, by impressing them on the minds of the 
young savage in this emphatic and never to be forgotten 
wav. 



72 HISTORY OF 0^"EONTA. 

"A company of these, having made free with ardent 
spirits procured of some of the families of the neigh- 
borhood, who had purchased it at Cooperstown for the 
occasion, came one evening to my father's house, with 
the view^ of getting whatever he might have to sell that 
was eatable. They had been in the room but a few min- 
utes, when they fell to dancing after their maimer; 
which was led on by a certain old squaw, who boasted 
much of being the mother of the great chief whom they 
called Shinnaivana, or the Big Warrior, at the same time 
exposing her naked bosom, saying as she leaped here 
and there about the room : "Here me nourish Cornelius, 
great Shinnaivana." Directly this big warrior, by way 
of demonstrating his prowess, knocked down an Indian 
of another tribe with his fist, called Schoharie John, 
which in a moment brought on a general fight. It 
seemed, however, as afterwards ascertained, that Scho- 
harie John had said something highly offensive to the 
big warrior, which invited his vengeance in a particular 
manner. Accordingly the offending Indian had no 
sooner fallen than Shinnawana sprang upon him with 
both feet and fell to stamping him down with all his 
might. This act, together with the rest of the scuffle, 
broke the floor, sleepers and all, when the whole com- 
pany rolled into the cellar, one undistinguished mass 
of yelling Indians. In the morning my mother asked 
the big warrior why he had so abused poor Schoharie 



PIONEER EXPERIEiXCES. 73 

John, when he replied : 'Me make him feel my big 
power.' " 

Mrs. Priest was early left a widow, the death of her 
husband being due to "a cold" contracted "in the rescue 
of several persons from drowning, in the time of high 
water." Later she took up an uncleared farm; but 
says the narrative : 

"I soon caused a house of logs to be built, in the very 
midst of a dense forest of pines, which from a hundred 
directions might have fallen upon it had the wdnds 
been over furious. To remove this alarming exposure 
I had felled several acres which were immediately 
about the house, so that when this was done I was lit- 
erally in the midst of an immense brush-heap. Out 
of this circumstance arose another difficulty, which had 
well nigh been more ruinous than the dreaded whirl- 
Avinds acting on the trees. The surrounding wilder- 
ness filled with the brushwood and leaves of a thousand 
autumns, dry as the scorched forests of the torrid zone, 
by some means had taken fire at several miles distance. 
The air was filled with a smoky haze, the sun travelled 
in blood, the stars were dimly seen. Very soon in the 
night the distant hills in various directions were seen 
flaming to their tops. Some places appeared to burn 
but feebly, while others poured forth flames as a great 
furnace. There the fire, on reaching a grove of with- 
ered pines, covered with pitch, at once darted to the 
clouds, in one long tissue of flame, till the pitch ex- 



74 HISTORY OF ONEOXTA. 

liausted, a chasm appeared ; here the streaming grandeur 
floated on the air as the mysterious light of the Aurora. 
At such a time, when the woods were burning in every 
direction, the only safety from rnin of all fences and all 
buildings was for the people of the neighborhood to run 
together, with axes, hoes, and rakes, and with these in- 
struments remove the dry brush, leaves, etc., around 
their fields, or on the sides exposed to the current of the 
fire ; then to set what are called '^back-fires,' so that by 
the time the fire of the woods should come near, it was 
met by a counter current, and thus assuaged, amid 
sweat, alarm and exhaustion. 

"Day and night the fire continued to make rapid pro- 
gress. My fears now began to be alarmed lest sooner 
or later the woods which encompassed my house, as 
well as the several acres of dry, fallen trees immediately 
about it, would take fire, when nothing could save my 
dwelling from its fury. I was alone and at a distance 
from neighbors. It was impossible to procure aid, as 
all people were engaged to save their own fences and 
houses. The fire had reached the neighboring hills, 
raging before the wind like a tornado, trees falling with 
a dismal crash, the flames flying like meteors. I clearly 
saw my fate ; for the brush lay piled to the very eaves 
of my house, on all sides but the front. What could 
I do ? Must I flee and leave my all to the flames, and 
sink in one sad hour to ruin almost irreparable ? Sud- 
denlv in the midst of mv trouble it stnick mv mind 



PIONEER EXPERIENCES. 75 

that I would try one experiment, which would either 
be instantly fatal, or would save me ; and this was to 
pull away the brush, w^iere it came in contact with the 
house, and then set it on fire, calculating that it would 
naturally pursue the dry wood. This was my rescue; 
for in a moment it took fire and fled from the house 
every way, through the immensity of brush, farther 
ard farther, roaring as it receded." 

Apropos of the forest fire, the editor of Mrs. Priest's 
narrative introduces some interesting observations on 
what was perhaps the most important early industry: 

"Perhaps no river of America abounds more in forests 
of pine than the Susquehanna, or of a superior quality, 
covering generally the mountain ranges from Otsego 
to the tide waters. But at the time of Mrs. Priest's 
settling of her new farm, these forests had not 
been broached by the axe of the raftsman. Of this des- 
cription of enterprise among the first settlers on that 
river, a history of no small magnitude might be written, 
as for many years the ambitious exertions of the most 
for accumulating property were directed to this pur- 
suit. Were we capable of chivalric and comic des- 
cription, there is not wanting incident in the history of 
rafting on the Susquehanna to furnish both subjects 
with an amplitude of matter, and we may add, even of a 
tragical character. It is said of the whalemen of Nan- 
tucket and the fisheries of Maine, that however poor a 
young man be, if he is courageous and skilful in captur- 



76 HISTORY OF ONEONTA, 

ing the whale he is sure of being held in high estima- 
tion by the ladies, and even those who are rich; while 
at the same time, if the sons of the opulent do not labor 
to acquire glory in this way, their gallantries are far 
from being acceptable with the fair arbiters of that sea- 
board. We believe we should not exceed the truth 
were we to say as much of the raftsmen of the Susque- 
hanna and the Delaware, in the time of their first set- 
tlement. In all ages, the most dangerous pursuits of 
men have drawn forth the admiration, and even the 
love of women; this very propensity, however difficult 
to account for, has laid the foundation and given the 
spring to all extravagant achievement among men since 
the world began. The Susquehanna is a river exceed- 
ingly crooked, and in many places fearfully rapid, 
on which account in the first attempts to navigate or 
"nm" it, as the raftsmen say, before its channels were 
better known, lives were often lost — by staving the 
rafts on the heads of islands, among flood-wood, or 
hidden trees fastened to the bottom ; and in running 
the rapids, being driven ashore by the violence of the 
current in the short bends of the stream, and various 
other ways. On this account the importance of the pur- 
suit was magnified, so as to fix on the man who had har- 
diness of soul, courage, good judgment, a knowledge 
of the channel, and withall, was lucky, a complete ven- 
eration of both men and women ; and though his charac- 
ter othorwiso midit not bo the most invitine:, yet such a 



PIONEER EXPERIENCES. 77 

circumstance would be nearly overlooked on account of 
the all-absorbing qualification that he was a first-rate 
steersman. He could always command the highest 
price, and was sought after equally with a first-rate 
whaleman among the oil merchants whose wealth is 
derived from the sea on the coasts of Newfoundland 
and the north ; as the value of a ten cribbed raft of pine 
boards was of equal importance to the owner with a ship 
to the East India Company — his all being often at stake 
in one such raft. During the course of this river, 
there are many dangerous places occasioned by its crook- 
edness, its falls, its rapids, and its islands, where all 
the skill, strength and ingenuity of the steersman and 
from four to eight men are brought into action for many 
miles together. Not even the extreme vigilance of a 
ship pilot on the most dangerous coasts of the ocean, 
in a storm, is more needed to guide and save his vessel 
than are the exertions of a steersman of a raft on that 
river, as well as also on the Delaware. There is no 
class of human exertion, except the field of battle, which 
is capable of exciting more interest in the beholder 
than the deep fixed solicitude of a steersman and his 
hands while passing a dangerous rapid. 



CHAPTER V. 



THE TOWNSHIP ORGANIZED. 



AT the time of its first settlement, Oneonta was in the 
old county of Tryon, which was formed from Al- 
bany county in 1772. Tryon county then embraced 
the whole western portion of the state, from a line ex- 
tending north and south through the center of the pres- 
ent county of Schoharie, to Lake Erie. In 1784 the 
name was changed from Tryon to Montgomery. One- 
onta was then in the old town of Suffrage. 

During the period of which we have written, One- 
onta as a distinct town had no existence. The village 
of Oneonta was then in the to^\Ti of Milford, and was 
kno^ra as Milfordville. Through the brawl of two old 
bruisers, it was sometimes vulgarly called "Klip- 
knocky."^ This nickname lasted a long while, and 
was known at a long distance from home. 

The act creating the town of Oneonta was passed by 
the legislature April 17, 1830, and read as follows: 

Sect. 1. From and after the first Tuesday in March 
next, all that part of the town of Milford lying south- 
westerly of a line commencing on the line of the town of 
Laurens, at the southwest corner of great lot number 
fifty in the Otego patent, and running thence an eas- 
torlv course along the southerly boundaries of said lot 



80 HISTORY OF ONEONTA. 

number fifty, to the southeast corner thereof; thence a 
southerly course along the easterly boundaries of lot 
number fifty-one to the southeast corner thereof ; thence 
an easterly course along the southerly boundaries of 
lot number fifty-seven to the southeast corner thereof; 
thence a southerly course along the easterly boundaries 
of lot number fifty-eight to the southeast corner thereof ; 
thence a southeasterly course to the westerly corner of 
James Ferris' farm ; thence along said Ferris southwest 
line to the Susquehanna river, and across and down the 
same to the northwest corner of lot number two in 
Fitch's patent; thence along the north line of said lot 
number two to the town line of the town of Maryland be 
annexed to the town of Otego. 

Sect. 2. All that part of the town of Huntsville 
lying northeasterly of a line commencing on the line 
of the town of Franklin and at the southeasterly corner 
of lot number nineteen in Wallace's patent, and running 
from thence along the southeasterly boundaries of said 
lot, to the Susquehanna river, be also annexed to the 
town of Otego. 

And all that part of the town of Otego lying south- 
westerly of a line commencing on the Susquehanna river 
at the southwest corner of John VanWoert's farm, and 
running along the southerly boundaries of said farm 
west twenty degrees, north sixty-five chains, to the north- 
west corner of said lot; thence north to the line of the 
tovm of Laurens, be annexed to the town of Huntsville. 



THE TOWNSHIP ORGANIZED. 81 

And the said town of Himtsville, as altered by this act, 
shall hereafter be kno\Mi by the name of Otego ; and the 
said town of Otego, as hereby altered, shall hereafter be 
knowTi by the name of Oneonta. 

Sect. 3. The first town meeting, in said towns, 
shall be held on the first Tuesday in March next, at the 
following places, to-wit: In Milford at the house of 
William V. White, in Otego at the house of S. & G. 
Bundy, and in Oneonta at the house of William Angell. 

In accordance with the act the first town meeting 
was held March 1, 1831, at the house of Thomas D, 
Alexander, who had succeeded Mr. Angell. The name 
of the town was given by Gen. Erastus Root of Delhi. 
Resolutions were passed and town officers elected as 
follows : 

"At an annual town meeting held in the town of One- 
onta at the house of Thomas D. Alexander, on the 1st 
day of March, 1831, present Eliakim R. Ford, Robert 
Cook, Justices in said town. 

After the opening of the meeting by proclamation, it 
was resolved, 

1st, That there be three assessors elected for said town. 

2d, That there be four constables elected for said 
town. 

3d, That there be four pound-masters chosen for said 
town. 

4th, That an amount, equal to the sum which may be 
distributed to said town from the common school fund, 



82 IIIHTORY OF ONEONTA. 

be raised by tax for the support of common schools in 
said towTi. 

5th, That the sum of one doUar per day be allowed to 
the fence viewers of said town. 

6th, That five per cent be allowed as the compensation 
to the collector, as his fees for collecting the taxes for 
said town. 

Yth, That all circular and partition fences, in said 
town, shall be at least four feet and six inches high. 

8th, That widows, who have no land, shall be entitled 
to let their cattle run at large in the public highways, 
from the fi.rst of April to the first of December. 

9th, That the annual town meeting shall be held on 
the first Thursday of March. The following officers 
were then elected for the town : 
, Supervisor — William Richardson. 

Town Clerk — Adam Brown. 

Justices of the Peace — John Dillingham, Jonah 
Korthrup, John S. Yager. 

Assessors — John VanWoert, John Fritts, John T. 
Quackenboss. 

Commissioners of Highways — Isaac Shepherd, Asel 
Marvin, William Angel. 

Overseers of the Poor — George W. Smith, Samuel 
Carpenter. 

Collector — Hiram Shepherd. 

Constables — Hiram Shepherd, David Sullivan, 
Emanuel Xorthrup, Eobert S. Cook. 



THE TOWNSHIP ORGANIZED. 83 

Com^nissioncrs of Schools — Obadiah Gifford, Peter 
Dietz, Joseph Walling. 

Inspectors of Schools — Samuel H. Case, Washington 
Throop, Amos Cook. 

Sealer of Weights and Measures — Eliakim R. Ford. 

Pound-Masters — Beers Peet, Joseph Walling, Wil- 
liam Dietz, Elisha Shepherd. 

In 1835, five years after the organization of the town, 
the whole tax-paying population of Oneonta was 261. 
The grand total tax levy of the town was $781.48. The 
amount of public school money raised by the to^vn was 
$100.45. William Angel was supervisor and David 
Sullivan collector for that year. 

In 1860 the population of the village is put down as 
678. The village was then described as containing 
three churches, a newspaper office, woolen factory, car- 
riage factory, iron foundry, a grist mill, a tavern, saw 
mill, and distillery. 

The growth of the village of Oneonta from 1840 to 
1850 must have been very slow. The building of a 
house in those days was an act of no little importance. 
For ten years there were but few dwellings erected, 
and those few were of a cheap and inferior class. The 
population hardly kept pace with the building. The 
young went west, and the number of families that moved 
out was about equal to the number that moved in. 

From 1850 to 1860 there was but little building and 
but a small increase in the population. There are no 



84 HISTORY OF ONEONTA. 

accessible figures showing the population of the village 
at the different decades, but the census returns for the 
town may be taken as safe guides in forming an estimate 
of the village population at different periods. In 1830, 
when the town was organized, it contained a population 
of eleven hundred and forty -nine. In 1840 it had 
increased to nineteen hundred and thirty-six. In 1850 
it had slightly decreased, then being nineteen hundred 
and two. In 1855 it was twenty-one hundred 

and sixty-seven. These are the figures for the to^vn. 
If the village population had increased in the same ratio, 
it could not have been far from two hundred and fifty 
when the town was formed in 1830. It is hardly fair 
to infer that the village ratio of increase was quite equal 
to that of the town. The western emigration was made 
up more largely from the villages than from the farms. 
The same cause — lack of profitable employment — that 
has transferred the young men of New England from 
the plow to the manufacturing centers, transferred 
our young men from a place where no industry was 
^encouraged, to remote but wider fields of usefulness. 

The following named persons are known to have been 
resident voters of the town at this first annual election. 
If any poll-list was kept it cannot be found, and it ia 
believed the names here given would nearly tally with 
the original poll-list: 

John Tanner, Gilbert E. Campbell, Jonathan Brewer, 
John Fritt'^, George Sernmling, 'N'nthnriiel Edmonds, 



THE TOWNSHIP ORGANIZED. 85 

Seth White, Jeremiah T. Morenus, Martin Morenus, 
Wm. Morenus, Thomas Armitage, Frederick Bornt, 
Peter Yager, Solomon Yager, John S. Yager, David 
Yager, Isaac Peet, Solomon Peet, Beers Peet, Henry 
Gifford, Daniel Gifford, John Giiford, Peter Swart, 
William Swart, James Slade, Jacob Young, James 
Young, Robert Cook, John Dillingham, Jonah ISTorth- 
rup, John T. Quackenbush, George W. Smith, Samuel 
Carpenter, Ira Carpenter, Enoch Copley, Joseph Hodge, 
Samuel Richards, John Hackett, Christjohn Couse, 
Henry Couse, Tice Couse, Asa Emmons, Laurence 
Swart, Eliakim R. Ford, Wm. Livingston, Anthony 
Couse, Hontice Couse, David Ward, David Sullivan, 
Obediah Ward, Amasa Ward, Daniel Hodge, Wm. Fer- 
guson, Menzo Ferguson, Stoughton Alger, Abraham Os- 
terhout, Ira Emmons, Carlton Emmons, Jacob Van- 
ness, Samuel Walling, John I. Couse, David T. Evans, 
Joseph Walling, Silvenus Smith, John Beams, Nich- 
olas Beams, Wilhelmus Beams, James Lee, Jacob Mo- 
rell, Daniel Morell, David Morell, David Kiinball, 
Nicholas Kimball, John Kimball, Wm. Wolcott, David 
Alger, David Alger, Sr., Nicholas Alger, Elias Alger, 
John Blend, Michael Blend, Reuben Butler, Thomas 
Mantor, Abraham Blend, Elias Hillsinger, Daniel 
Crocker, Daniel Sullivan, Ezra Gates, Peter Dininey, 
Abram Houghtaling, Lewis Houghtaling, Hugh Hough- 
tailing Wm. Richardson, Jacob Richardson, ]\Iorri3 
Cooley. Wm. Cooloy, Wm. Price, Ashael Marvin jr., 



86 HISTORY OF ONEONTA. 

Ashael Marvin sr., Elias Marvin, David Marvin, Joel 
Losee, David Whitmarsh, John Barnes, Abiatha AVhit- 
marsh, Samuel Barnes, Wm. Barnes, David Babcock^ 
Sanford Babcock, Nathan Babcock, Lewis Smith, Wm. 
Angel, Joseph W. Lindsay, Nathan Bennett, Err W. 
Bennett, Samuel 11. Case, Edmund Meigs, Eseck Pot- 
ter, John Potter, Michael Harney, Frederick Brown^ 
Adam Brown, Jacob Brown, Jacob Dietz, Abraham 
Wolf, Isaac Wolf, Conrad Wolf, Asa Parish, Daniel 
Ward, David Ainsworth, John M. Watkins, Munson 
H. Watkins, Sylvester Ford, John VanWoert, Peter 
VanWoert, David Hawkins, Wm. Hackett, Elisha 
Shepherd, Elisha Shepherd jr., Ira Shepherd, Sanford 
Shepherd, Ezra Tolles, Isaac Shepherd, Wm. Fritts, 
Hiram Shepherd, Isaac Holmes, Nathaniel Niles, Al- 
vin Strait, Daniel P. Strait, Johann Harsen, James Mc- 
Donald, Mark McDonald, Leander McDonald, Peter 
W. Dietz, John McDonald, Stafford Potter, John Hack- 
ett, Obediah Gifford, W^ashington Throop, Amos Cook, 
Wm. Dietz, Eli Derby, Samuel Derby, Levi Brown, 
Rice Cooke, Wm. Wainwright, Egbert Scramling. 

The larger part of the land was lease-hold property. 
Most of that portion now within the corporate limits 
of the village, and for some distance to the east and west 
of its boundaries, was divided into farms of one hun- 
dred acres each, the lines running nearly at right 
angles with the river and extending back on each side 
of the Susquehanna river so that a nearly equal divi- 



THE TOWNSHIP OEGANIZED. 87 

sion of the river bottoms and the upland could be made 
among the settlers. Besides the Johnson patent (al- 
ready alluded to), at the Plains, and below, the sub- 
division of the remainder of the town lying along the 
river are designated in old deeds by numbers "in Wal- 
lace Patent" — sometimes they are referred to as being 
in the Banyer patent. As the heirs of the original 
owner, or patentee, became of age, certain lots, desig- 
nated by numbers, were offered for sale, when they were 
usually bought by the lease-holder. It had been for 
years the custom of the owner, or his representative, to 
grant what were known as life-leases. The lease might 
be for one, two or three lives. A lease for life ran 
during the lifetime of the lease-holder; but as most of 
the leases were for three lives, the names of three per- 
sons were mentioned during whose lives the lease was 
to continue. One of these names was of a very young 
person. 

Besides the Johnson or Banyer patent included with- 
in the town limits, were also portions of the Otego or 
Burlington Township patent. Over the upland por- 
tion of these royal patents log roads extended, along 
which the great pines sawed into logs were hauled to 
the mil] where they were converted into lumber which 
was piled up by the riverside, awaiting the spring fresh- 
ets to raft them to the Baltimore market. "No very 
scrupulous regard was shown respecting the ownership 
of the timber taken. 



88 HISTORY OF ONEONTA. 

For a long period the mail was brought into the vil- 
lage by the carrier, who made a route from Cooperstown 
to Delhi. Dr. Joseph Lindsay held the contract for 
carrying this mail many years. When approaching 
a post village the carrier announced his coming by a 
long drawn-out blast upon the tin horn which he carried 
at his saddle-bow. 

Previous to the organization of the town, most of the 
highways therein were merely slight improvements over 
the old log roads of the first settlers, but a new era ap- 
pears to have dawned by the extension of the Charlotte 
Turnpike. An act, which in part was as follows, was 
passed by the legislature April 16, 1830, to effect this 
purpose : 

Section 1. — Jacob Dietz, William Angel, Frederick 
A. Fenn, Samuel Stephens, and such other persons as 
may be associated with them, are hereby created a body 
corporate and politic, for the sole and only purpose of 
making a turnpike road and constructing a toll-bridge 
across the Susquehanna river, with a capital of twenty- 
five thousand dollars, to be divided into shares of twen- 
ty-five dollars each. 

Sections 2 and 3 of the act provided for commission- 
ers and prescribes their duties. 

Section 4. — Such commissioners or any two of them, 
shall lay out said road on the most eligible route, pro- 
ceeding from a point at or near Ilotchkiss' mills in the 
town of ITarpersfield, in the county of Delaware, by 



THE TOWNSHIP ORGANIZED, 89 

Milfordville (Oneonta) meeting house, to Gilbertsville 
in the town of Butternuts, in the county of Otsego. 

After its completion this road became a great high- 
way from the Susquehanna to the Hudson river at Cats- 
kill, both for stages and teamsters. For many years 
nearly all the goods that came to country stores here- 
abouts and all the lumber that went from here to the 
Hudson were carried over this route. In after years 
the carting business from this part of the valley was 
transferred to Fort Plain, on the Mohawk. The Char- 
lotte turnpike was also the road taken by cattle drivers 
from the west. It was not an unusual sight to see 
several droves of cattle, a thousand or more in a drove, 
from Ohio and Indiana, as also large flocks of sheep, 
pass through the town in one day during the summer 
season. A favorite stopping place for the drovers with 
their herds was at Emmons, where a well-managed hotel 
was kept for many years by Carlton Emmons. 

In 1853, the first effective measures were taken to- 
wards the construction of the Albany & Susquehanna 
railroad. The workers for the project suffered many 
defeats and much discouragement. The delay in the 
building was such that the road was not completed to 
Oneonta till the summer of 1865, and to P>inghamton 
about two years later. In 1870 the railroad shops 
were located here. The first master mechanic in 

charge was John Primmer, The latter was succeeded 
bv Charles A. Jones, Thomas Howard, Henry C. Smith, 



90 HISTORY OF ONEONTA. 

John E. Skinner, the last named holding the position 
for many years. His successor was W. C. Ennis, who 
took charge in 1904. The average number now paid 
here, both shopmen and trainmen, is 1200. The 

monthly payment to employes is about $65,000. In 
February, 1902, the average number of men employed 
in the shops was 740, and the average monthly wages of 
the shopmen was $22,000 ; of the engineers and firemen, 
$15,500; making nearly $40,000 paid monthly from 
the pay car at Oneonta. 

Joseph H. Kamsey of Albany was the first president 
of the road, and continued to act in that capacity till 
the Albany & Susquehanna was leased for ninety-nine 
years* to the Delaware & Hudson company, and was 
merged as a part of that system. John W. VanValk- 
enburg was the first superintendent. The latter post 
is now held by D. F. Wait, whose immediate pre- 
decessors were A. J. Stone and C. D. Hammond, with J. 
H. Manning as superintendent of motive power. The 
first local directors of the road were Eliakim K. Ford 
of Oneonta, and Jared Goodyear of Colliersville. These 
men were pioneers in the projected road, and continued 
efiicient workers in its behalf until the finish. At the 
present time George I. Wilber is the local director. 



*The period of time— ninety-nine years — was adopted from 
the old English custom of leasing land for three lives, each of 
thirty-three years. 



CHAPTER VI. 



NEWSPAPERS AND SCHOOLS. 



Newspapers. 

THE first newspaper here of which we have any 
record was tlie Oneonta Gazette. It was started 
about 1842, and owing to ill health of the editor, 
William J. Knapp, it was discontinued after a brief 
career. The Oneonta Herald was first published in 
1853 by Leman P. Carpenter, and was made a living 
success by hard and persistent work. Its publication 
was continued by Leman P. Carpenter alone, when in 
about 1868 it was purchased by George W. Keynolds, 
who was editor and proprietor for a few year'!, whon it 
was purchased by Edward M. Johnson, who afterwards 
sold the plant to Willard E. Yager and George W. Fair- 
child, who became sole proprietors. It is now managed 
by G, W, Fairchild & Co. — Andrew B. Saxton and Carr 
W. Peck being associated with Mr. Fairchild in the 
business. 

The Oneonta Press, established in 1876 by W. II. 
Jefferson, was the next in order of time. It has been 
successively under the management of Raymond & 
Smith, Coatcs & Weed, S. W. Fcrernbaugh, and is now 



94 HISTOEY OF ONEONTA. 

under the management of Henry G. Bisliop, who be- 
came proprietor in 1894. 

The Oneonta Spy was first publislied by George W. 
Reynolds, who was succeeded by E. C. Reynolds, and 
in 1895 it was purchased by Albert D. Hitchcock, who 
continued its management until its recent discontin- 
uance. 

The Oneonta Daily Star was established in 1890 by 
Harry W. Lee. Several attempts had previously been 
made to publish a daily newspaper, but after a brief 
existence in each case the effort was abandoned. The 
Star is evidently an established success. Its increas- 
ing popularity has given it a strong hold both in this 
and adjoining towns. Thus we have two weeklies and 
one daily published here. 

Normal ScJiool. 

By an act of the legislature, which became a law 
in 1887, a State Normal and Training School was 
established here. In that year an appropriation of 
$45,000 was made by the State for the purpose of get- 
ting under way the work of erecting a building for the 
school In 1888 an additional appropriation of $69,- 
000 was made. In 1890 the legislature made a further 
appropriation of $40,000 for the purpose of grading 
the grounds and for equipping the school. September 
4, 1889, the building was formally dedicated. A few 
days after the last date, the school was opened for in- 



NEWSPAPERS AA^D SCHOOLS. 95 

stniction with James M. Milne, A. M., Ph. D., as prin- 
cipal, aided by an efficient staff of assistants. Feb- 
ruary 15, 1894, the school building with all its contents 
was destroyed by fire. The work of instruction was 
continued in various buildings about the village. Not 
a day of school work was lost, and of the four hundred 
pupils in attendance only one student withdrew from 
the school. 

An insurance of $75,000 on the burned building was 
immediately made available for erecting a new build- 
ing, and March 8, 1894, less than one month from the 
date of the fire, the legislature appropriated $100,000, 
to be applied towards the completion of the work. In 
1895 an additional $50,000 was voted for the same 
purpose, and the work of construction was so rapidly 
pushed to completion, that in the following October 
the different departments were transferred to the new 
Normal building. 

In 1898 Dr. Milne withdrew from the school, and 
Percy I. Bugbee, A. M., Ph. D., was appointed prin- 
cipal. The school has earned and still maintains a 
wide-spread reputation for its thorough course of in- 
struction. During its comparatively brief existence 
its graduates have been in demand as teachers in all 
parts of the country. 

The following is a com])lete list of the Local 
Board and Faculty for the year 1 906 : 

Local Board: William II. Morris, President; Henry 



96 HISTORY OF ONEONTA. 

Bull, Secretary-Treasurer; Hon. James Stewart, Geo. 
I. Wilber, Willard E. Yager, George Kirkland, Hon. 
Walter L. Bro^\^l, Harry W. Lee, Eugene Kaymoud, 
Reuben Reynolds, Frederick A. Mead, Hon. Hobart 
Krum. 

Faculty: Percy I. Bugbee, A. M., D. Sc, Principal, 
Didactics; Arthur M. Curtis, B. S., Mathematics; Ed- 
win F. Bacon, Ph. B., Modern Languages; Frank D. 
Blodgett, A. B., A. M., Ancient Languages; Howard 
Lyon, A. B., M. S., Sciences; Charles A. Schumacher, 

A. B., Ph. D., English; Kate M. Denison, Methods: 
Mrs. Margaret H. Start, Music and Criticism; Mrs 
Ella L. Colbath, Drawing and Criticism; John L. Dahl 

B. S ., Biology and Criticism; Winchie L. Collom, Read 
ing. Expression and Criticism ; Florence M. Matteson 
Mathematics and Latin ; Amelia E. Armbruster, Physi 
cal Training and Criticism; Blanche S.VanAuken, Ifan- 
ual Training; Eliza E. Gee, Principal of Intermediate 
Department ; Cora H. Pettit, Principal of Primary De- 
partment ; Helen G. Irving, Criticism and Model Teach- 
ing; Helen C. Fritts, Criticism and Model Teaching; 
Frances A. Terrill, Criticism and Model Teaching; 
Caroline D. Hurlbutt, Criticism and Model Teaching; 
Olive C. Freudenthal, Kindergarten; Caroline Telford 
Bockes, Secretary and Librarian. 



NEWSPAPERS AND SCHOOLS. 97 

Public Schools. 

While the old-time "district" school in the outlying 
parts of the town, has maintained a struggling existence, 
the Union school, with its several departments, in the 
village has been established and is in a flourishing con- 
dition. This school, under its new organization, 
opened in 1868 with Wilber F. Saxton as principal. 
Mr. Saxton resigned his position in 1870, and was then 
succeeded by N^athaniel IST. Bull. Large additions 
were subsequently made to the building on Academy 
street. In 1883, about six hundred pupils were in at- 
tendance and twelve teachers were employed, and an 
academic department was established. 

Under the school law, Nathaniel X. Bull, A. M., who 
had served for many years as principal of the school, 
was made the first superintendent of the public schools, 
which position he held until 1895, when ho was suc- 
ceeded by William C. Franklin, A. M., who is now 
the superintendent. Under the reorganization Albert 
W. Abrams, A. M., was the first principal; his successor 
was R. S. Roulston, A. M., The present principal is 
Harry W^. Rockwell, A. B., a recent graduate of BroAvn 
University. 

The school is well known for its excellent educational 
work, the total registration during the past year being 
about 1200. It occupies three buildings. Besides the 
capacious structure on Academy street, there are two 
commodious and well arranged school buildings, one on 



98 HISTOEY OF ONEONTA. 

River street and one on Center street. The principal 
of the former is Luella Huntington, and of the latter 
Linda V. Mead. There is not another village between 
Albany and Binghamton having equal educational ad- 
vantages. 

As supplemental to the school facilities, the village 
has a public library of several thousand well selected 
books. 

The following is a complete list of the Board of Edu- 
cation and Faculty for the year 1906 : 

Board of Education: Albert Morris, President; M. 
G. Keenan, Secretary; William Edmunds, Henry Bull, 
Henry Saunders, Arthur E. Ford, John R. Skinner. 

Faculty: William C. Franklin, M. A., Superinten- 
dent of Schools. Academy Street School, High 
School Department: Harry W. Rockwell, Prin- 
cipal ; Ella M. Briggs, Vice-Principal ; Flora K. Allen, 
Bertha Vischer, E. Estelle Southwell, Harriet E. Ste- 
vens, Alice E. Latten, Inez Bates. Preparatory De- 
partment: Emma Bates, Frances L. Kellogg, Dorothy 
Wilber, Myrtle McKinney, Nellie Alcott. Interme- 
diate and Primary Department : Winifred Brown, Anna 
Bunn. Center Street School: Linda V. Mead, Prin- 
cipal ; Flora Shearer, Mary Brainard, Ellen Hitchcock, 
Clara Bunn, Jennie M. Green, Jessie Traber. River 
Street School : Luella Huntington, Principal ; Mary 
Ward, Mila Frasier, Elizabeth Ward. Rispah Potter, 
Special Teacher of Music. 



NEWSPAPERS AND SCHOOLS. 99 

The school at East End employs four teachers, and 
should be, but is not, a part of the village school system. 
Among recent principals have been Edward E. Beals, 
Charles A. Butler, H. B. Goodenough, and Andrew 
Sloan, The present principal is Edward P. Saxton. 
The other members of the faculty are Misses Hannah 
Hayes, Grace Piatt and Minnie Brainerd. The school 
has 125 pupils. 




CHAPTER VII. 

STORIES OF THE OLDER INHABITANTS. 

UN'CLE Mose was naturally comical and sarcastic. 
A baptismal ceremony was taking place below the 
Main street bridge and an eccentric clam peddler 
•was being dipped. As the clergyman raised the con- 
vert out of the water, Mose, who occupied an elevated 
view on the bridge above the assembled multitude, cried 
out, "Dip him again, elder, he always was a dirty old 
sinner !" 

Dexter B. was a local exhorter of no little repute. 
One Sabbath morning he was driving by General B's 
office seated on a buckboard wagon. The General sa- 
luted the exhorter with the remark, "Quite a wagon 
you got there, elder." The latter replied, "Just the 
thing to carry the gospel over the hills." 

This same exhorter was well known for his quaintness 
of speech in his pulpit discourses. He was conducting 
services one Sabbath in an outlying rural church. He 
referred to the passage of the children of Israel through 
the Eed sea in the following words: "The children of 
Israel came up to the seashore when the waves parted, 
and they went through dry-shod. Old Pharao came up 
with his horses and chariot, all glittering in gold, and 
he said, 'if those poor devils can go through in that way, 



102 HISTORY OF ONEONTA. 

surely I, the king of Egypt, can do it too.' He drove 
in, when the Almighty sent a big wave against him 
which knocked the linchpin out of his old cart and down 
he went." 

Old Betsy's C's husband had wrestled with a hard 
case of typhoid fever during which he had been attended 
by Dr. Lindsay. He was on the road to recovery when 
Betsy had occasion one day to leave him alone in the 
little log house on the hillside and make a trip down 
to the village. She had left a panful of pot-liquor 
and bread crumbs on the shelf. He got to the pan and 
could not satisfy his appetite until he had cleaned the 
dish of its contents. The result of his feasting was the 
closing of his mortal career. Some time after his 
death Betsy went to the doctor's house, and after taking 
a razor from its paper wrapping, she displayed the blade 
and said, "I wish I had Lon back here again as bright 
as this razor. Its all I've got, doctor, to pay you with. 
You got him most well, doctor, and he eat that panfull 
of pot-liquor and bread, and died, the d d fool !" 

Old Nicholas Z. was an eccentric character. It was 
customary, whenever a barn raising occurred, to have 
on hand a plentiful supply of whiskey. Nicholas at- 
tended one of these neighborhood gatherings when the 
jug was passed around. He preceded his swig with a 
toast. Holding the jug near his mouth, he said, "De 
goot book do say dis am de worst enemy of mankind, 
but de goot book do say also, you must love your enemy 



STORIES OF THE OLDEE INHABITANTS. 103 

de same as you do yourself, and how much I do love 
dis !" — and down went a big draught. 

One of the old root doctors was telling of the earlier 
treatment of diphtheria. He said the practice had 
been to fasten a sponge on the end of a wire, saturate 
the sponge with ammonia and thrust it down the throat. 
When asked if they inserted the sponge below the larynx, 
he said, "Why of course, they run it down way below the 
larnix." 

Old John Van said he never could eat rye bread, 
"but when they began to make rye into whiskey, I could 
worry down a good deal of it." 

After old Nicholas had got into full fellowship in 
his church his minister made him a pastoral visit. Af- 
ter dinner they took a stroll over the farm. The min- 
ister remarked that from the appearance of things he 
thought the Lord had been with him. Nicholas re- 
plied, "I ain't seen nothing of him around here, but he 
may have been on the mountin up there." 

One of the old pioneers was one day hauling hay from 
a steep hillside to the barn. Almost every load would 
tip over. A happy thought struck him. The rear 
wheels of his wagon being much larger than the front 
ones, to level up when loading, he put both the wheels on 
the lower side. He congratulated himself upon the 
discovery of a great scientific principle, but he turned 
to go back to the barn. Both small wheels were on the 
lower side, and over went the hay again. 



104 HISTORY OF ONEONTA, 

Dr. Evans, one day observing a thick-headed fellow 
trying to train a collie dog, said to him: "A man to 
train a dog well ought to know more than the dog does." 

During the campaign of 1844 the Whigs were rais- 
ing a pole on Main street near Grove, when John Evans, 
who prided himself on his smart tricks, came along on 
a horse with a bag of cornmeal from the mill. Tie 
yelled out a derisive remark regarding his political 
opponents, at the same time tossing the bag of meal 
over his shoulder with the string end to the rear, and 
started his horse at a brisk gallop. The bag string 
broke, and his course along Main street was traceable 
by a long yellow trail in the black mud of the street. 
He made all possible haste to get away from the shouts 
of the crowd, and reached home without any grist. 

An eccentric old-time character was Hugh Hough- 
tailing, who traded his wife for a shot-gun, and who af- 
terwards found consolation in the fact that the gun 
was not a worse "kicker" than his wife had been. 

An old gentleman by the name of Moon, and his son, 
both of whom had imbibed too freely of intoxicants, 
were met one day by Dr. Lindsay, who remarked that 
he had ne^'er before seen the old moon and the new moon 
both full at the same time. 

Samuel B. Beach, who had been a clerk in the gene- 
ral post-office at Washington most of his lifetime, came 
to Oneonta to reside and took rooms at the old Susque- 
hanna house. He brought a load of nicely split, long 



STORIES OF THE OLDER INHABITANTS. 105 

wood of David Alger because it looked so good. A few 
days afterwards, he said to Alger, "If I had another load 
I could put all h — 1 out." It was green poplar wood. 

The Rev. Mr. W. was particular to insist on final ed 
of words. He closed one of his sermons in the follow- 
ing words : "I tell you, my brethren and sisters, that in 
this world man is very liable to be deceiv-ed and most 
wofully suck-ecZ in." 

At a former period in Oneonta, there were at least 
three medical practitioners who styled themselves M. 
D.'s by virtue of a diploma they had bought from a ped- 
dler at the price of $5.00 each. On the proof of a will 
at Delhi they were called as expert witnesses. They 
furnished the lawyers in the case an opportunity to 
give them a good roasting; the other witnesses were cx- 
horters or quack preachers. The Rev. ^Ir. B — , here- 
tofore referred to, was asked the question, "What con- 
versation took place between you and the deceased ?" 
In a very solemn tone he replied, "I said, 'sister Greg- 
ory, you are about to go on a long journey. Are you 
all packed up.' " 

Of one of the quack physicians. Dr. Boyce, regular 
physician, related the following incident: "Dr. Reynolds 
wanted to go into partnersliip with me in the practice of 
medicine. I said, 'Dr. you are a very good man, that 
is to say, but you are most wofully deficient in lore, 
that is to say.' " When relating this conversation, 
Dr. Boyce's manner was very dramatic. 



106 HISTORY OF ONEONTA. 

One of the principal men of this region fifty years 
ago was Peter Brink, who frequently entertained his 
neighbors by giving dances, or '''breakdo^\^l9," as he 
called them. Pete fiddled and furnished the music 
and "called off." The spring of 1857 was made mem- 
orable by a great snowstorm, which set in on April 14, 
and continued with brief let-ups for a week. The 
ground was covered throughout the upper Susquehanna 
country with an average depth of four feet of snow. 
Forage for stock became very scarce. Hay was sold at 
$40 a ton and rye straw at two shillings a bundle. It 
was a difficult matter to get either of these necessities, 
even at such prices. After the highways had been 
made passable, old Pete hit upon a happy way of getting 
a supply of forage for his stock. He announced 
that he would give one of his popular entertainments, 
and that each man that attended should bring a bundle 
of straw instead of paying the usual fee of two shillings. 
When the night of the dance came around Pete had thor- 
oughly rosined the bow and was vigorously scraping 
away when the first comer knocked at the door, a bundle 
of straw under one arm and a "gal" under the other. 
He showed his bundle, saying, "Here, Pete, is your 
straw." Pete had built a large pen of fence rails to 
receive the straw. As each male guest produced his 
bundle at the door Pete shouted "all right, put it in the 
pen." Pete was doing his best, having in thought the 
big stock of straw that would greet his eyes in the morn- 



STOKIES OF THE OLDER INHABITANTS. 107 

ing. His calls of "lemonade all and "sassafras across 
the floor" were prompt and vigorous. The night wore 
away. So did two gallons of whiskey and one quart 
of molasses. After the last dancer had gone, Pete 
went out to his straw pen. There he saw only one 
bundle of straw. After the first, each succeeding 

guest had taken the same bundle and presented it at 
the door. Verily, the jig was up ! 




CHAPTER VIII. 

EARLY SETTLERS OUTSIDE THE VILLAGE. 

CALVIiT EATON, one of the first settlers about 
West Oneonta, settled on the farm now owned by 
Isaac Holmes, He came from Wyoming, Pa., 
date uncertain. He was a famous story-teller. Many 
of his stories have been preserved by tradition, and are 
now told in the neighborhood with great zest. His 
wife, familiarly known as Aunt Olive Eaton, died about 
1844 or 1845, at a very advanced age, he having died 
many years before. They brought up several of their 
nephews and nieces, having no children of their o\^ti, 
William Holmes, father of Isaac Holmes, being one of 
them. 

Elder Emanuel Northrup, a Baptist minister, settled 
on the farm now owmed by his grandson, Isaac North- 
rup, about 1794. He came originally, it is believed, 
from Khode Island. He had lived in Connecticut, 
but came last from Stephentown, Rensselaer county. 
His son, Josiah Xorthrup, who was afterwards a jus- 
tice of the peace for many years, having been elected 
at the first town meeting, a prominent man in town af- 
fairs, and a leading member of the Baptist church, 
was, at the time of his father's coming, about fourteen 
years of age: he died in 1844. 



110 HISTORY OF ONEONTA. 

The farm now occupied by the l^iles family was set- 
tled by Abner Mack, a Rhode Island man. He sold 
a part of his possession, what is now the l^iles farm, in 
1797, to ]Srathaniel Niles; there were two of the name, 
father and son, the father being the purchaser. He 
was at that time about seventy years of age ; he brought 
with him some apple seeds, planted a nursery, raised 
trees, set out an orchard, and lived to drink cider made 
from the apples. The orchard became quite famous in 
the neighborhood, and was known to all the boys for 
miles around. Upon the death of the father, his son, 
Nathaniel Niles, who had occupied the farm with his 
father, became the owner, who lived upon the farm 
imtil his death in 1852, at eighty-seven years of age. 

Franklin Strait, another of the early settlers, came 
from Rhode Island in 1797 ; he brought his family, 
and drove an ox team. He first settled on the farm 
now owned by Enos Thayer, where he lived until 1808, 
when he exchanged his farm with Asa Thayer, another 
of the early comers, for the property at West Oneonta 
where the hotel now stands. He enlarged the house 
that then stood upon the grouad, took out a license, and 
opened "Strait's Tavern," on the Oxford turnpike, one 
of the old landmarks for many years; he died in 1822, 
Before this property had come into the possession of 
Thayer, it had been occupied by Daniel Lawrence, 
father of Lewis Lawrence, of Utica, and where Lewis 
Lawrence was born. 



EARLY SETTLERS OUTSIDE THE VILLAGE. Ill 

Robert Cook settled early upon the farm formerly 
owned by Hammond Cook. At the time of his coming 
the Indians were yet frequent visitors. One day, as 
the story goes, Cook was at work in the field, his wife 
being alone in the house, an Indian called, and finding 
her alone, brandished his knife, and made some terrible 
threats, frightening her almost to death. Just at this 
time Cook appeared ; the Indian took his departure pre- 
cipitately. Cook seized his gun and pursued him. 
He returned after a little time, and the Indian never 
troubled them more. 

The place where Daniel Hodge now lives was first 
occupied by Samuel Stephen. His father, John Ste- 
phen, made a settlement at Laurens before the Revolu- 
tionary war. 

The Sleepers were from near Burlington, New Jer- 
sey. During the war they became alarmed at the in- 
roads of the Tories and Indians, and returned to New 
Jersey. On their way back, they passed through 
Cherry Valley the day before the massacre. They 
returned to the settlement after the war. John Sleeper 
had several sons. One, Nehemiah Sleeper, built a mill 
below Laurens on the Otego creek, which was afterwards 
known as Boyd's mill. Samuel Sleeper took up sev- 
eral hundred acres of land, of which the farms of Dan- 
iel Hodge and Horace White formed a part. He built 
a grist-mill and saw-mill on the Otego creek, just belo-w 
the iron bridge this side (east) of "West Onnonta. lit 



112 HISTOEY OF ONEONTA. 

was said to have been an active business man, and was 
quite a noted surveyor. He sold his property, after 
some years to one David Smith, and went to Strouds- 
burgh, Pa., and thence to Ohio. His oldest son, Eph- 
raim Sleeper, married Jane Niles, daughter of IsTathan- 
iel ISTiles, and remained in the neighborhood. The 
latter died many years ago at West Oneonta at an ad- 
vanced age. 

Other persons are mentioned by the old residents as 
being among the early settlers. Samuel Green occu- 
pied a part of the farm formerly OAvned by Joseph Bull. 
A man named Tichnor another part of the same farm. 
One Ogden lived where Joseph Taber now lives, about 
whom a few stories are current in the neighborhood. At 
one time a company of Indians was encamped at the 
mouth of the Otego creek engaged in making baskets 
and trinkets of various kinds. Ogden visited them for 
the purpose of geting a pair of silver shoe buckles made 
by an Indian who was skilled in the art. It so hap- 
pened that he had not silver enough to make the buckles. 
Two or three of the Indians left suddenly, and after 
having been absent a short time, returned, bringing a 
handful of silver. Ogden inferred from this that there 
must be a silver mine not far away, but he was never 
able to find it. A deer often came around his house ; 
he shot at it repeatedly, out was unable to hit it. An 
old woman lived not far away, who was called a witch; 
he finally suspected that she had something to do with 



EARLY SETTLEES OUTSIDE THE VILEAGE. 113 

the deer; *he procured a silver bullet, which he put in 
his gun, and next time the deer appeared he fired at 
it, wounding it badly, but it escaped; he soon learned 
however, that the old woman was badly hurt.** 



*The same story is told of other hunters and other witches. 
* *The author is indebted to Mr. N. N. Bull for ihe sketch re- 
lating to West Oneonta. 



CHAPTER IX. 

KELIGTOUS ORGANIZATIONS IN ONEONTA. 

THE first church organization in town was effected 
by the Presbyterians. The first meeting was 

held at the house of Frederick Brown, January 
24, 1800, when John Houghtailing, Henry Scraraling, 
John VanDerWerker, and James Dietz were chosen 
eklers; William Morenus, David Scramling, Aaron 
Barnes, and James Quackenbush were chosen deacons. 
The following are the names of the ministers of the 
church with dates of service: Wm. Fisher, 1823-33; 
Wm. Clark, 1833-37; Jos. W. Paddock, 1837-42; For- 
dyce Harrington, 1843-45 ; Gains M. Blodgett, 1845— 
(Reorganization) ; Eliphalet M. Spencer, 1849-52 ; Wra. 
B. Christopher, 1852-54; Wm. Baldwin, 1854-62; Geo. 
O. Phelps, 1863-69; H. H. Allen, 1869-87; Charles G. 
Matteson, 1887-88; John H. Brandow, 1888-94; New- 
ton M. Hall, 1895-99 ; J. C. Russell, D. D., 1899— 

The next church organization was by the Methodist 
Episcopals. The first steps towards forming the so- 
ciety were taken by Nathan Bennett, Silas Washburn, 
David T. Evans, David Fairchild, and David T. Clark. 
This society had no house of worship for many years, 
and held their meetings in the village school house. 
The first church edifice was built in 1844. In 1868-9 



116 HISTORY OF ONEONTA. 

a new and larger meeting house was built and finished 
at a cost of $12,000. Eev. George Elliott and Kev. 
Wm. McDonald were the first preachers. Subsequent 
ministers have been: Kev. C. G. Robinson, 1854-56; 
Rev. W. G. Queal, 1856-58; Rev. S. M. Stone, 1858- 
59; Rev. D. L. Pendell, 1859-61; Rev. Geo. Parsons, 
1861-63; Rev. P. Y. Hughston, 1863-65; Rev. H. K 
VanDusen, 1865-67; Rev. R. W. Peebles, 1867-70; 
Rev. Austin Griffin, 1870-72 ; Rev. I. Is^. Pardee, 1872- 
75; Rev. W. B. Westlake, 1875-78; Rev. Y. Z. Smith. 
1878-79 ; Rev. A. B. Richardson, 1879-82 ; Rev. D. C. 
Olmstead, 1882-85; Rev. A. B. Richardson, 1885-8« ; 
Rev. O. H. McAnulty, 1888-93; Rev. John E. Tj-ne, 
1893-96; Rev. H. E. McDermott, 1896-01; Rev. John 
B. Sweet, 1901-02; Rev. Henry Tuckley, 1902-05; 
Rev. John H. Bickford, 1905— 

The presiding elders in charge here have beer.: Rev. 
Wm. N. Cobb, 1869-72; Rev. Henry AVheeler, 1873-75 
Rev. H. R. Clark, 1876-79 ; Rev. F. L. Hillis, 1880-83 
Rev. J. K Lee, 1884-87; Rev. Wm. H. Clin, 1888-89 
Rev. T. P. Halstead, 1889-91; Rev. A. J. VanCleft, 
1891-96; Rev. Austin Griffin, 1897-98; Rev. Truman 
E. Hall, 1898-03 ; Rev. Austin Griffin, 1903—. 

The Eirst Baptist society was organized April 6, 
1833. At a meeting called for that purpose, David 
Yager was chosen moderator and James Slade clerk. 
April 24, 1833, a council was held, of which Elder Alex. 
Smith, of Franklin, was moderator, and Elder King- 



KELIGIOUS OEGANIZATIONS IN ONEONTA. 117 

sley, of ^leredith, clerk. The pastors have been Rev. 
D. B. Crane, 1833-35; Rev. John Smith, 1836-48; 
Rev. H. Clark, 1848-49; Rev. A. B. Earle, 1849-53; 
Rev. E. Westcott, 1854-57; Rev. John Smith, 1858- 
65; Rev. A. Reynolds, 1865-70; Rev. Geo. R. Burn- 
side, 1871-74; Rev. H. Brotherton, 1874-80; Rev. P. 
D. Root, 1880-82; Rev. E. D. Cloiigh, 1883-86; Rev. 
A. B. Coats, 1886-91; Rev. C. C. Pierce, 1891-96; 
Rev. E. J. Farley, 1896—. 

The Free Baptist Church society was formed at the 
Emmons school house Feb. 25, 1856.* The council 
consisted of Revs. A. Wing, D. Green, O. T. Moulton, 
and laymen Joseph Jenks and Harvey Mackey. The 
meeting house was built in 1857. The pastors have 
been Rev. O. T. Moulton, 1856-61 ; Rev. IT. Strickland, 
1862; Rev. E. Crowel, 1864-68; Rev. G. P. Ramsey, 
1868-72; Rev. O. T. Moulton, 1872-75; Rev. Peter 
Scramling, 1875; Rev. M. C. Brown, 1875-78; Rev. 
D. C. Wheeler, 1878; Rev. David Boyd, 1880-83; Rev. 
C. A. Gleason, 1883-87; Rev. A. E. Wilson, 1887-96; 
Rev. Charles S. Pendleton, 1896—. 

The first Episcopal services were held in 1839, by 
the Rev. Andrew Hall, a missionary to Oneonta. At 
first the society met in the school-house of the village, 
and afterwards built a chapel on the lot now occupied 
by a part of the Central Hotel. The clergy have been 

*A Free Baptist church had been built at the Plains many 
years before. 



118 HISTOKY OF ONEONTA. 

as follows: Rev. Andrew Hall, 1839; Rev. Stephen 
Parker, 1855; Rev. D. S. Tuttle, 1864-65; Rev. E. K 
Goddard, 1865; Rev. Mr. Foote, and Rev. Mr. Fergu- 
son, 1866-67; Rev. Mr. Lighthipe, 1870; Rev. Mr. 
Fitzgerald, 1873-74; Rev. J. H. Smith, 1874; Rev. J. 

B. Colhoun, 1875-78 ; Rev. J. B. Hubbs, 1880-81 ; Rev. 

C. D. Flagler, 1882-85; Rev. Daniel Duroe, 1885-89; 
Rev. E. A. Hartman, 1889-92; Rev. J. E. Bold, 1892- 
1900; Rev. T. G. M'Gonigle, 1900-04; Rev. J. R. Lacey, 
1904—. 

The "First Universalist Society" of Oneonta was 
formed Dec. 12, 1877. The meeting house was built 
in 1878-79. The pastors have been Rev, L. F. Porter, 
1877-81; Rev. H. Kirk White, 1882-84; Rev. B. Bran- 
ning, 1884-85; Rev. E. F. Temple, 1885-89; Rev. J. C. 
F. Grumbine, 1889; Rev. Charles E. Hall, 1889-90; 
Rev. W. L. Stone, 1891-92 ; Rev.E. F.Temple, 1892-95 : 
Rev. L. L. Greene, 1896-1903; Rev. G. E. Huntley, 
1903-05 ; Rev. W. D. Potter, 1905—. 

Through the efforts of H. D. Nelson, A. R. Gibbs 
and Charles L. Wilbur, the United Presbyterian Church 
was organized May 5, 1889, when the first services were 
held under the ministration of Rev. J. R. Frazier, and 
five persons were received into membership, viz : James 
Dougherty, Elizabeth Dougherty, Benjamin Tiffany, 
Mrs. H. D. Nelson, Sarah Stranahan, and since the 
first ministrations of Rev. Mr. Frazier, the following 
pastors have been in charge: Rev, Leslie E. Hawk, 



EELIGIOUS OKGANIZATIONS IN ONEONTA. 119 

1889-94; Rev. Robert L. Welch, 1894-1901; Rev. Thos. 
F. B. Smith, 1901-05. The society has erected a fine 
church edifice on Dietz street, and is steadily increasing 
in membership. 

The Evangelical Lutheran church was organized in 
Oneonta in May, 1903. Rev. Henry Manken was 
called to the pastorate, and the society now owns the 
former Baptist church on Grove street, where the meet- 
ings are regularly held. 

The First Church of Christ, Scientist, was organized 
April 11, 1894, with fourteen charter members. In 
connection with its place of meeting it has a well sup- 
plied reading room which is open every week day from 
2 to 5 p. m. 

Catholic services were conducted in Oneonta by Rev. 
J. J. Brosnahan, of Cobleskill, till July, 1883, when 
the Bishop created a new parish at this place and ap- 
pointed Rev. J. H. Maney (of St. Mary's Church, Al- 
bany), its pastor. The society, which took the name of 
St. Mary's, erected a handsome church edifice in 1884, 
upon the south-east comer of Main and Grand streets. 
Father Maney was succeeded as resident pastor by Rev. 
D .E. Murphy in August, 1892. The latter spent over 
twelve years in the service of St. Mary's church, devot- 
ing himself with the utmost self-denial to its interests. 
Under his pastorate the membership was largely in- 
creased, and it now numbers about 500 souls. Father 
Murphy died in November, 1904, and was succeeded 



120 HISTORY OF ONEONTA. 

in June, 1905, by Eev. John McCarthy, the present 
incumbent. 

Besides the churches in the village of Oneonta, there 
were also four other church organizations in town — 
a Methodist Episcopal church at the Plains, forming 
one charge with the church at Laurens, and two churches 
at West Oneonta, a First Baptist and a Free 
Baptist society. Both are prosperous churches of good 
membership, with settled pastors. The fourth church, 
Methodist Episcopal, is near the upper reservoir, on the 
Oneonta creek. Kev. Henry K. Gifford has for many 
years been its pastor. 




CHAPTER X. 

ONEOXTA SIXTY YE.VES AGO AND NOW. 

IN" 1845 there were four streets, a number of alleys 
and cul-de-sacs. Main, Chestnut, Maple and 

River were the principal streets. Grove street 
extended from Main to Academy and thence the way led 
to Chestnut. Church street extended from Chestnut 
to a barnyard near Franklin street, and High 
extended about half way to West street On High 
street there were several dwellings, and on Church there 
were two. 

From a point where Otsego street now is, on Main 
street, to the end of the trolley line, there were only 
four dwellings, while to the north and south of Main 
street within this section five farms are now occupied 
by streets and residences. 

On Maple street tliere were three dwelling houses, 
while on either side of this street are now parallel and 
cross streets, with but few vacant lots. 

Taking as an example the most busy portion of Main 
street at that time, beginning at Broad, on the south side 
there was the old Ford stone store, a wagon shop, a 
cooper shop, an old weather-beaten blacksmith shop, 
sided with rough boards running up and down in prim- 
itive barn style, then south there were two one-story 



124 HISTORY OF ONEONTA. 

business buildings, one residence, then the Huntington 
stone store, so many years occupied by the Mendel 
Brothers, and still owned by them; next the Fritts 
stone building between the last named and the present 
viaduct. 

There was not even a well-graveled sidewalk, in many 
places a board or slab being thrown down to guide the 
foot-passenger over a mud hole. 

Commencing at a point nearly opposite Dietz street 
there was a narrow and winding way — and many there 
were that walked therein — down under the hill that led 
to the distillery near Broad street. 

On Chestnut street there were four pretentious res- 
idences, while most of the houses were mere rookeries. 
From Academy street to West there were six dwelling 
houses on both sides of the street, with no outlying 
streets. Since that time many farms have been cut 
up into streets and building lots, where well-kept dwell- 
ings and well-flagged sidewalks could be measured by 
miles in every direction. 

Well-paved streets have taken the place of the muddy 
roadbeds in the principal business portion of the vil- 
lage ; the streets are lighted by electricity, and telephone 
and telegraph communication has been established in 
every portion of the town, as well as with the outside 
world. Trolley cars traverse the main streets and the 
trolley line makes Cooperstown, Richfield Springs and 
the Mohawk valley easily accessible. The Ulster & 



ONEONTA SIXTY YEARS AGO AND NOW. 



125 



Delaware railroad connects with Kingston and New 
York city, while the Delaware & Hudson railroad makes 
Binghamton and Carbondale to the south, and Albany 
and Schenectady to the east within a few hours' travel. 
An extension of the trolley line is also projected to the 
Hudson river at Catskill. 

The main impetus to the growth of the village was 
given by the establishment of the railroad machine 
shops here, which are being enlarged every year, requir- 
ing an increased force of employes and a vast outlay 
of money. 

The Oneonta Milling company was established here 
in 1896 by the Pruyn Milling and Power Company. 
The present company employs a large force of help, 
working night and day. The capacity of the plant is 
now one thousand barrels of rye and buckwheat flour, 
and three hundred tons of feed every twenty-four hours. 
The storage capacity is one hundred thousand bushels 
of grain or one hundred cars, and five hundred and fifty 
cars sacked mill feeds. This company's output is 
shipped to all parts of the United States. The large 
grain elevators and warehouses of Morris Brothers and 
of Ford & Eowe are also busy centers in this line of 
trade. 

The coldstorage warehouse of Swift & Co., of Chi- 
cago, is an important addition to the business of the vil- 
lage. 

The Wilber National Bank, whose first president 



126 HISTORY OF ONEONTA. 



whose first president was Hon. John Cope, have a lar^e 
clientage, including many neighboring villages and a 
wide extent of surrounding country. 

The wholesale and retail stores in all lines of trade 
are liberally patronized by large sections of the adja- 
cent country. 

There are eight well-built church edifices and a 
Christian Science church. 

The water supply of Oneonta is from a large moun- 
tain reservoir about three miles north of the village 
The sources of this reservoir are numerous large springs 
which furnish an abundant supply of pure water, which 
is carried through all the streets for ordinary household 
purposes, and which supplies a thoroughly drilled and 
well-equipped fire department with the means to cope 
with any fires that may occur. 

The Fox Memorial Hospital, which was presented to 
the village through the generosity of Colonel Reuben L. 
Fox of ]^ew York city, was opened for public service in 
1900. It is a fine structure and of wide-spread useful- 
ness, not only to this immediate vicinity but to all the 
surrounding country. The liberality of the people 
has added largely to the eflficiency of the institution. 

Through the munificence of the state, an armory has 
been established here which has recently been opened 
for the occupancy of our local state militia. This com- 
pany was called into active service during the Spanish- 



OXEOXTA SIXTY YEARS AGO AXD KOW. 127 

American war and during this period was stationed at 
Ilonohiln, being then under the command of Captain 
Ursil A. Ferguson, and the regiment was led by Lieu- 
t<?nant Colonel Walter Scott. 

A flourishing Young Men's Christian Association 
occupies a commodius structure of its own on Broad 
street ; the property of the association being estimated at 
$20,000. It has a membership of about 500, a well- 
equipped reading room with rare conveniences for the 
supply of such books as may be desired by members. 

Thirty lawyers and about the same number of doctors 
look after the business interests and health of the com- 
munity and outlying country. 

A glove factory, a shirt factory, num.erous cigar fac- 
tories, a silk mill, building firms and founderies furnish 
employment to a large number of people. The ]\Ioody 
& Gould Company is also an important business cen- 
ter. Five large hotels and a number of smaller ones 
furnish entertainment to the traveling public. 

Centrally located in the most picturesque portion of 
the Susquehanna valley, with its extensive business 
interests, as it was said in former times of Kome, it 
can be truly said that now all roads in Otsego and Del- 
aware counties lead to Oneonta. 




New State Armory, Oneonta, N. Y. 



APPENDIX 



APPENDIX. 
Oneonta in 1841. 

THE following is a column of business cards from 
the "Oneonta Weekly Jouknal/' of July 1, 
1841. It is nearly a correct showing of what the 
business of the village was then. 

Headquarters at the foot of Chestnut street. Xew 
Fall and Winter goods. Timothy Sabin is now receiv- 
ing a fresh supply of Spring and Summer Goods, com- 
prising a general assortment of Dry Goods, Groceries, 
Crockery, Hardware, Dye Stuffs, Paints, Oils, etc., etc. 
for sale as low as at any establishment west of the Hud- 
son river. Please call and examine goods and prices ; 
they are well selected, and will be sold cheap for Cash, 
Produce, or a liberal credit. 

Oneonta, May 13, 1841. 

Cabinet and Chair W^arehouse, No. 10 Chestnut st., 
Oneonta. The subscriber respectfully informs his 

friends, and the public generally, that he has opened 
a Cabinet Warehouse at No. 10 Chestnut st., Oneonta, 
where he manufactures and keeps constantly on hand, a 
general assortment of Cabinet Furniture, comprising 
Mahogany, Cherry and Maple work. Also, a good 
assortment of Chairs, will be kept constantly on hand. 



132 HISTORY OF OKEOXTA. 

and all other articles generally found at an establish- 
ment of this kind. 

]Sr. B. Most kinds of lumber and grain will be re- 
ceived in payment. 

Oneonta, Sept. 17, 1840. R. W. Hopkins. 

A Card. Executed at the office of the Oneonta 
Weekly Journal with neatness and dispatch and on rea- 
sonable terms, Job Printing of every description. 

E. Cooke, Attorney at Law, Oneonta, Otsego County, 
K Y. 

John B. Steele, Attorney, &c., Oneonta, Otsego 
County, ]^. Y. Office, in the stone building opposite 
the Otsego House, Main street. 

Mason Gilbert, Hatter, Main street, Oneonta. 

Cooke & Brown, retail dealers in Dry Goods, Gro- 
ceries, Crockery, Hardware, Iron, Steel, &c. Store 
under the office of the Oneonta Weekly Journal, Main 
street, Oneonta. 

Potter C. Burton, dealer in Watches, Clocks, Jewelry, 
Silver and German Silver Ware, &c. One door north 
of Cooke & Brown's Store, Main street, Oneonta. 

Timothy Sabin, retail dealer in Dry Goods, Groceries, 
Crockery, Hardware, Iron, Steel, &c., &c. Store op- 
posite the Oneonta House, Main street, foot of Chest- 
nut, Oneonta. 

Clyde & Cook, retail dealers in Dry Goods, Groceries, 
Crockery, Hardware, Drugs & Medicines, Dye Woods 



ONEONTA IN 1841. 133 

& Dye Stuffs, kc, &c. Store nearly opposite the Ot- 
sego House, Main street, Oneonta. 

Snow & VanWoert, manufacturers of, and wholesale 
and retail dealers in Tin, Sheet-iron, and Copper ware, 
Stoves, &c., &c. Over Clyde & Cook's Store, Main 
street, Oneonta. 

C. Noble, manufacturer of, and wholesale and retail 
dealer in Beach's Patent Shaving Soap, Beach's Liquid 
Opodeldock, and Black Varnish, &c., &c. Main street, 
Oneonta, 

Robert W. Hopkins, manufacturer of, and dealer in 
Cabinet Ware and Chairs of every description. Chest- 
nut street, Oneonta. 

Cushing & Potter, manufacturers of, and wholesale 
and retail dealers in Barrels & Firkins, &c., &c. Main 
St., Oneonta. 

W. W. Snow's Wool Carding and Cloth Dressing Es- 
tablisliment. 0})posite E. R. Ford's Store, Main street, 
Oneonta. 

Bennet & Smith, dealers in Morocco, Boots and Shoes, 
Thread, Nails and Findings, &c., &c. Chestnut street, 
Oneonta, Otsego Co., N. Y. 

George W. Andrews, Chair Maker, and House & 
Sign Painter, (Chestnut street), Oneonta, Otsego Co., 
N. Y. 

C. G. Cross, Waggon and Carriage Maker, Chestnut 
street, Oneonta. 



134 



HISTORY OF ONEONTA. 



E. R. Ford, retail dealer in Dry Goods, Groceries, 
Crockery, Hardware, Drugs & Medicines, Dye Woods, 
& Dye Stuffs, Iron, Steel, &c., &c.. Main st., Oneonta. 




The Town's Military Record 

VETERAiVS OF EARLY WARS. 

The names of soldiers who enlisted in the earlier wars 
from what is now Oneonta cannot be given, there being 
no extant record. The following, however, are veter- 
ans of the Revolutionary war and of the war of 1812, 
who are buried within the boundaries of the present 
township : 

Revolutionary Soldiers. — Thomas Morenus and Peter 
Brewer, both formerly referred to, are buried at River- 
side. So also is Simeon Walling, who went down the 
river with Clinton in 1779, and later came back and 
took up lands on what is known as the Slade farm. 
David Scramling, who died in 1824, was grandfather 
of Allen Scramling. Henry Scramling, who died in 
1882, was Second Lieutenant in Tryon County IMilitia. 
James Thompson, a soldier of the French and Indian 
and Revolutionary wars, was at Bunker Hill. He 
lived with David Scramling and was never married. 
These three are buried in the old graveyard on the Eph- 
raim Parish farm. Pet^-r Scofield of the Westchester 
County :Militia, 3d Regiment, died August 13, 1833, 
aged 84 years. Colonel Pierce VanCortlandt, John 
Cook, who died January 4th, 1841, aged 85 years. Cap- 
tain Lory Jenks — these are buried in Cook ceme- 



136 HISTORY OF ONEONTA. 

tery, West Oneonta. Joe (probably Joseph) Dolliver 
is buried in an old graveyard near the Otego creek 
about two miles above West Oneonta. His descendants 
still own and live on the farm. 

The veterans of the war of 1812 buried in Oneonta 
are Jeremy Morcnus, Captain Samuel Bixby, James 
Pendleton, Frederick Bornt, and Bartholomew Mc- 
Guire. All are buried in Riverside cemetery.. 

VETERANS OF THE REBELLION. 

The following is a list of those who entered the ser- 
vice of the United States during the War of the Re- 
bellion to fill the quotas of this town, as compiled by 
N. J. Farmer in 1865 : Alexander Brewer, Edwin T. 
Farmer, Ira Green, Homer Broadwell, Nathan L, Hem- 
street, Albert Graves, John B. Goodsell, Henry B. Thea- 
don, Captain Sacket Olin, Orrin J. GifFord, Albert 
Schermerhorn, George Baker, Francis E. Crosier, Chas. 
M. Crosier, First Lieut. Horace Hudson, William H. 
Peck, Joseph Benedict, William Mickle, Nathan Graves, 
James Roberts, Second Lieut. Raymond L. Ford, James 
Decker, Elisha Lewis, William Ofield, Michael Riley, 
Maurice Temple, B( njamin Rathbun, Benjamin Am- 
brose, John Archer, Thomas IJrosman, M. P. Cliilds, 
Theodore Denoyer, Joseph English, Patrick Fl\ain, Wil- 
liam Fadling, James Finn, Martin Henry, Edwin C. 
House, Peter Leavenbrewer, Henry Leatherman, Thos. 



THE town's military RECORD. 137 

Madigan, Allen F. Mallory, William Price, Abel Pal- 
mer, Daniel Kodgcrs, George A, Eobb, John L. Sickles, 
John VanVolkenbiirgh, James Wheeler, Henry Warner, 
Edward Wells, Kobert Winn, Henry C. Whitman, Alex- 
ander W. Hand, Myron Yager, George Reynolds, Henry 
C. Grant, David Alger, Jr., Chauncey Alger, Malcom 
Keenan, Elias Honghtaling, Hiram Alger, Homer 
Brewer, Milton Brewer, Elliott E. Barnes, Samuel 
Leonard, Jr., Levi S. Miles, George W. Butts, Alonzo 
Pratt, Joseph S. Massett, Henry Wickham, James B. 
Miller, Solomon Sullivan, Henry S. Porter, Woodbury 
K. Cook, Nathan Bridges, Second Lieut. George W. 
Quackenbush, Elvin Cutshaw, Isaac Quackenbush, 
Samuel G. Cook, R. P. Bishop, Ezra G. Potter, P. S. 
Dunham, Leonard Pratt, Ira J. Emmons, Oliver Kim- 
ball, Solomon Kimball, Edwin D. Farmer, John B. 
Shove, Stewart A. Grant, Abel F. Packard, Warren P. 
Burton, Willis Snow, Phineas C. Fish, Francis Strait, 
William Strickland, Silas J. Strader, Harvey B. Van- 
Alstine, Norman D. Jewell, Lieut.-Colonel Charles A. 
Watkins, John Youngs, Charles E. Foote, Andrew J. 
Sullivan, Erastus Patterson, Second Lieut. George Q. 
Watkins, Albert P. Watkins, Charles Gates, Matterson 
Youngs, Nelson Hoag, James H. Quackenbush, John 
T. Pardee, Walter Pardoe, Kobert Cooke, Charles Cul- 
ver, Orrin J. Cooke, John R. Wolcott, Daniel Shultz, 
James H. Hamilton, Elisha S. Fisher, Charles N. Mer- 
rills, William Olin, James P. Leake, Ernest Peters, 



138 HISTORY OF ONEOXTA. 

John T. Bronson, Edgar Reddington, Thomas II. Mor- 
ris, John B. Woodruff, Lewis J. Woodruff, Alfred Bar- 
ton, George Page, John S. Driggs, Edgar S. Driggs, 
Willard Morell, Edward H. Whitney, Lewis Ingalls, 
Surgeon Meigs Case, John Ingalls. 

The following residents of this town at date of en- 
listment were credited elsewhere : James D. Stowell, 
Stephen IL Drum, Levi W. Broadwell, Erancis Cep- 
perlej, George W. Ingalls, Henry R. Abel, Chauncey 
Cepperley,Wallace Betterley, Ira S. Miller, Leroy Pratt, 
Herman D. Yager, Ezra H. VanAlstyne, George A. 
Pardee, Alonzo R. Watkins, Allen H. Green, Edward 
W. Brewer, Edward B. Jewell, DeWitt C. Barnes, E. 
Reynolds, John Jones, Edward H. Whitney. 

ONEONTA IN THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR. 

Oneonta was largely and creditably represented in the 
Spanish- American war of 1898, nearly all of the volun- 
ters for that war from Otsego county being residents 
of Oneonta and members of Company G, First I^ew 
York Regiment. In the list which follows a few names 
are of members of that company who resided elsewhere ; 
and there are also a few names of residents of Oneonta 
who served in other companies. The company left 
Oneonta May 2d, 1898, and after service of nearly eight 
months were ordered home from Honolulu. Oneonta 
was reached by them in the morning of December 26th, 
1898. 



THE town's military eecord. 139 

Major Walter Scott, Captain Ursil A. Ferguson, 
First Lieutenant H. A. Tucker, Second Lieutenant F. 
W. Boardman, Quarter-Master Sergeant Frank L. Olin, 
Sergeants F. O. Rollins, A. G. Butts, C. L. Pru\Ti, W. 
H. Sessions, F. M. H. Jackson ; Corporals S. E. Bartow, 

A. L. Cook, O. J. Johnson, D. F. Keyes, C. W. Herrick, 
M. H. Bidden, W. H. VanDeusen, Grant Barnes, Ed- 
ward A. Groat, Sterling F, Higley, Frank Pattengill, 
G. V. Johnson ; Privates M. Anderson, Merritt Alger, 
Henry Alger, George Allen, R. H. Baker, Gurdon Barn- 
hardt, A. B, Bush, Erwin Blanchard, John Burnside, 
W. K. Brink, J. E. Bush, M. E. Baxter, L. J. Bennett, 
W. E. Burlingame, W. M. Birdsall, Charles F. Brown, 
J. 'N. Conant, A. B. Crouch, George Crouch, J. S. Cot- 
ton, C. M. Cain, George L. Colvin, Joseph R. Connors, 
Wm. D. Craft, Fred C. Carroll, Charles F. Carter, M. 

B. Champlain, C. S. Doyle, S. J. Donnelly, E. D. Ed- 
son, Frank Evans, Fred Fleming, Clarence Fisher, F. 
L. Ferris, M. J. Garvin, Edgar T. Gill, W. S. Gray, 
G. E. Hitchcock, JST. C. Harmer, H. B. Heath, B. J. 
Hotaling, C. L, Hotaling, R. P. Hill, LaVerne Holmes, 
H. A. Hamilton, L. C. Jones, W. F. Keeney, R. A. 
McMorris, George W. Norton, F. W. Neal, — Pannaci, 
F.R. Pashley, W. I. Pierce, L. J. Preston, G. L. Peet, 
W. J. Pointer, F. V. Riley, John Sommers, Arthur W. 
Shultz, Ira Sherman, T. F. Smith, N. Shermcrhorn, 
James H. Staploton, M. B. Stapleton, F. B. Sheldon, 
AV. E. Sommcrville, A. B. Silliman, S. J. Stone, John 



140 HISTORY or ONEONTA. 

V. Springsteen, C. Thorne, S. J. Turp, T. Truhart, R. 
D. Tallmadge, A. B. Webster, H. P. Wellman, C. O. 
Weidman, R. H. Westcott, Burton Woodbeck, Frank 
F. Klippert, George C. Merrihew, John R. Miller, John 
H. Mooney, Wesley Thorne, W. Thornburn, F. A. Voor- 
hees, George Yanderpool, William Ackert. 




Excerpts From "Oneonta Memories. 

THE RAILROAD CELEBRATIOX IX 1865. 



Toward the close of summer, Oneonta saw a day that 
was the most memorable in all her history — a day that 
may be termed the bright particular turning point in 
her career and which revealed the first faint glimmerings 
of that subsequent remarkable prosperity which is so 
well testified to by her great solid lines of brick and 
masonry which we now see. 

That auspicious day was the 29th of August, and the 
occasion was the formal opening up to business of the 
Albany and Susquehanna railroad between Oneonta 
and the capital city of the state. 

In this place it is proper to mention the name of an 
old and prominent citizen, whose energy and ability 
were conspicuously shown in overcoming the physical 
obstacles that existed in the face of this great work be- 
tween Cobleskill and Oneonta. As most of my readers 
doubtless anticipate, I refer to Harvey Baker. 

The 29th of August opened with a beautiful morning, 
and before the day had far advanced every highway 
leading into the village was more or less thronged 

*By W. V. Huntiugton, 1891. 



142 HISTORY OF ONEONTA. 

with people afoot and in conveyances, all bound for the 
common point of attraction. 

The citizens had appointed a reception committee, 
comprising E. R. Ford, Esq., L. L. Bundy, Esq., John, 
M. Ferrell, D. M. Miller, Colonel W. W. Snow, D. J. 
Yager, Esq., and Timothy Sabin, while another com- 
mittee had erected arches completely spanning the prom- 
inent streets. These structures were profusely deco- 
rated with flags and flowers, and likewise displayed 
mottoes in the following significant sentences: 

"Friends of our Enterprise, Welcome;" "Isolation 
Obsolete;" "The Hudson and Susquehanna United;" 
"Eamsey, Our Little Giant;" "State Officials— their 
Deeds in Lines of Iron ;" "Ex-Governor, no Veto ;" 
"Governor Fenton, Our Railroad Friend," and "The 
Directors, Labor Omnia Vincit." 

The stores and public buildings were also decorated 
with flags. 

About noon the excursion train from Albany arrived, 
bringing another addition to what was already the larg- 
est number of people Oneonta had ever seen within her 
borders at one time. Among the newly arrived guests 
were many prominent state and railroad officials, who 
were met at the depot by four companies of Colonel 
Dunbar's 41st regiment of State militia, headed by Ma- 
jor-General S. S. Burnside and staff. 

The invited guests were then escorted to the two vil- 
lage hc)t(ds, where dinner was served. 



EXCERPTS FROM "OXEOXTA MEMORIES." 143 

Early in the afternoon the distinguished visitors, 
accompanied by the reception committee, repaired to 
the First Baptist church-yard, where L. L. Bundy, Esq., 
called the vast crowd to order. 

Speeches were then made by Governor Feuton, Lieut. 
Governor Alvord, Hon. J. H. Ramsey, Judge Gould, 
Wm. Steuart, Esq., Hon. George A. Starkweather, and 
P. P. Rogers, Esq. 

At four o'clock p. m. the invited guests took the train 
to return to Albany, and their departure was made amid 
cheers from the men and boys, booming of cannon, mu- 
sic of the bands and the waving of many handkerchiefs 
in the hands of the fair sex. 

It was truly a day whose enthusiasm is rarely equaled. 

On the 19th of March, 1866, an excursion train was 
nm to Unadilla, in honor of the formal opening of the 
railroad for business as far as that point. The train 
was dra-UTi by the locomotive "E. R. Ford," and upon 
arrival from Albany and departure from Oneonta it 
was duly saluted by General Bumside's "brass six- 
pounder." Among the earlier names of engines were 
"E. C. Delavan," "E. P. Prentice," "Jared Goodyear," 
"John Cook," "Charles Oourter," "Minard Harder," 
"A. B. Watson," "J. H. Ramsey," "Peter Cagger" and 
"John Westover." 



144 HISTORY OF ONEONTA. 

LEADING CITIZENS IN 1866. 

Among the business and professional men of One- 
onta about 1866 were E. R. Ford, Solon Huntington, 
Harvey Baker, Charles W. Lewis, Place & Huntington, 
J. C. Tice, Silas Sullivan, A. G. Shaw, D. M. Miller, 
Cope Brothers & Co., L. S. Osborn, Peters & Wick- 
wire, John M. Packard, S. H. Case, M. D., Meigs Case, 
M. D., H. A. Hamilton, M. D., N. C. Moak, J. H. 
Keyes, S. J. Cook, Bundy & Bridges, P. G. Wieting, 
S. Bowen, William McCrum, E. W. Hopkins, William 
D. Bissell, William Johnston, A. Mendel & Brothers, 
James Roberts & Co., Jay McDonald, N. I. Ford, D. 
J. Yager, E. C. Bundy, Marble & Farmer, T. S. Gault, 
A. Chapman, Peck & Coates, Reynolds Brothers & 
Francisco, A. D. Reynolds, M. D., David T. Evans, M. 
D., William H. Morris, Albert Morris, L. P. Carpenter, 
G. W. Reynolds, Elisha Shepherd, S. Brownson, M. 
Keenan, David Morrell, L. Goldsmith, T. J. Gilder- 
sleeve, A. J. Gates, Timothy Watkins, J. R. L. Walling, 
Timothy Sabin, E. R. Sabin, Potter C. Burton, Col. 
W. W. Snow, Major-General S. S. Burnside, J. P. Van- 
Woert, M. :N'. Elwell, H. Shellman, Turner McCall, 
H. J. Brewer, N. D. Jewell, George Bond, S. Hudson, 
H. S. Pardee, W. S. Fritts, Anthony White, Deacon 
Bingham, William Mickle, John Cutshaw, J. S. Doo- 
little, and H. McCall. 



f^^W't^'^-^ 




Walnut Street. 1870 



EXCERPTS FROM "ONEONTA MEMORIES." 145 

rUBLIC SCHOOL PUPILS IN 1868. 

The following is a list of pupils comprising all who 
received tuition during the period that Mr. Saxton 
was principal in the new building of the Oneonta Union 
Free School, commencing October 26, 1868. This was 
the first year of the Oneonta Union School. 

Primary Department, Miss Lizzie Wing, Teacher, 
term commencing October 26, 1868 : Ellen Morenus, 
Louisa Converse, Carrie Huntington, Blanch Villoz, 
Ellen Spencer, Jennie Ingalls, Flora Strait, Frank 
Strait, Josephine Alger, Ida Manchester, Lizzie Jones, 
Margaret Jones, Flora Vanderburg, Hattie Wickham, 
Helen Brewer, Louisa Alton, May Peebles, George Pee- 
bles, Lottie Bissell, Louis Cohn, Gould Marble, William 
Maloney, James Maloney, William Vanderburg, Floyd 
Harrington, George Long, Henry Long, Charles Bur- 
gin, Sherman Reynolds, Robert Hopkins, Charles Far- 
mer, Charles Fairchild, Virgil Barnes, Frank Bissell, 
Elmer Howe, Debois Hasbrooke, Egbert Hasbrooke, 
Elmer Coates, Hattie Bennett, Lelia Doolittle, Laverne 
Doolittle, Wesley Smith, Clarence Wetsel, Clara Pope, 
Cora Pope, Minnie Pratt, Mary White, Ada Ford, Wil- 
liam Fairchild, David Alger,Edward Alger,Alice White, 
Hattie White, Henry Driggs, Ella Garvin, Katie Hynes, 
Florence Wood, Avis Youngs, Robert Kecnan, Frank 
Briggs, Irving Briggs, George France, Lottie France. 

Intremediate Department, Miss Mary C. Vergeson, 



146 HISTORY OF OXEOXTA. 

Teacher; term commencing October 26, 1868. — William 
Ingold, John Brewer, Jerome Fuller, Michael Maloney, 
Howard Farmer,Richard Cooper, Arthur Ford,William 
Morris, Edward Barnes,El Dorr VanWoert, W.V. Hunt- 
ington, Edward Carpenter, Eeed Saunders, Fred. Whit- 
comb, Charles Pardee, Charles Lewis, Frank Pardee, 
Howard Wickham, Fred Spencer, Ambrose Bissell, Le- 
verne Reynolds, John Johnston, Union Ousterliout, 
Carr Peck, James Marble, Frank Barnes, Melissa 
Gault, Ettie Carr, Helen Patterson, Louise Elwell, Liz- 
zie Myers, Alice Beach, Ella Harper, Martha Coates, 
Lulie Ford, Fannie McDonald, Mary Johnston, ISTellie 
Ford, Mary Reynolds, Flora Jacobs, Florence Bassett, 
Estella Hemstreet, Ida Parker, Marion Beach, Lean- 
na Hubbard, Viola Doolittle, Kittie McGinley, Orline 
Mickle, Mary Pardee, Fannie Cornish, IMarcia Doo- 
little, Amanda Mickle, Merton Ford, l\Iorrel Xelson, 
George Smitli, Emerson Hasbrooke, Wirt McCrum, 
Adelbert Butts, Clarence Spaulding, Jacob Cornish, Em- 
erald Jewell, Charles Miles, Frank Miller, Willie 
Graves, David Rose, Leon Mickle, Leopold IMendel, 
Leon IMendel, Robbie Jacobs, Willie Marble, James 
Long, Philo Brewer, Jackson Couse, Dell Beams, Eu- 
gene Alton, George Jones, Herman Sherwood, Sylves- 
ter Alger, Charles Dye, Millard Briggs, George Wins- 
low, Lizzie Swart, Bertha IS^ewman, Lavanche JIudson, 
Emma Bishop, iSTcllie Lewis, Anna Cope, Ada Yager, 
Adna Brezee, Mary Swart, Anna Beach, Jennie Strait, 



EXCERPTS FROM "oNEONTA MEMORIES." 147 

Mary Brezee, Ida Brewer, x\lice Eairchild, Kachael 
Cohn, Jennie Fairchild, Augusta Hasbrooke, Mary Bur- 
gin, Jennie Watkins, Alice Bro^vnson, Kittie Ramsey, 
Anna Alton, Ida Sherwood, Augusta Alger. 

Senior Department, Wilbur F. Saxton, Teacher; 
term commencing October 26, 1868.— Clark McCrum, 
W. E. Yager, Charles Baker, Clinton YanWoert, Frank 
Peck, Arthur Sullivan, William Figger, Henry Saun- 
ders, Orson :Miller, Cliarles Alton, James Slade, Charles 
Youngman, Austin Sage, Eugene Parr, Emery Smith, 
William Shellman, George Pardee, John Silvernail, 
Noble Patterson, Charles Hasbrooke, Charles A. Smith, 
Henry Potter, Fitch Parish, Mathew Cornish, Orrin 
Yager, Maggie Bixby, Emma Gates, Lucy Bond, Nellie 
Myers, Emma Birdsall,Louise Sullivan,NettieWickham, 
Dora Roberts, Mary C. Burton, Alice Farmer, Mary E. 
Blend, Jennie McDonald, Kate Sullivan, Myra E. Bix- 
by, Nellie Howe, Helena Uebel, Mary Howe, Libbie 
Culver, Anna Hudson, Viola Tucker, Ella Whitcomb, 
Belle Pardoe, Julia Brewer, Phebe Richards, Leona 
Mickle, Ambrose D. Thurston, George Ingalls, Albert 
Marble, Edward Lewis, Samuel Reynolds, Alfred Shaw, 
George Gates, William B. Bissell, Marvin Siple, George 
• Harper, Willis Peebles, Alpheus Sabin, Richard Blake- 
ly, William Basinger, George Young, Emulus Reynolds, 
Edward Pardoe, Oscar Manchester, Anna Halsted, Ra- 
chael Farmer, Alice Yager, Hattie Ford, Lou. Furman, 
Francelia Richards, Anna AVickham, Hannah Peebles, 



148 HISTORY OF OXEONTA. 

Helen Sullivan, Mary Alton, Ilattie Ward, Mary 
Mickle, Amanda Smith (Laurens), Nettie Soule (Col- 
liers), Helena McCrum, Hattie Jenks, Mary Farrington, 
Hannah Strait, Ada Campbell, Julia V. Pattengill 
(iSTew Lisbon), Florence Eaton (IsTew Lisbon). 

Sundry other "Senior" pupils of 1868-70. — Azro 

Tyler (Westford), Seeley, Leroy Mickle, Herbert 

VanWoert, David Wickham, Andrew Wickham, George 
Barlow, Quincy Parish, LeGrand Parish, Andrew Par- 
ish, Bernard Gross, D. W. Chase, Silas Parish, Sam- 
uel S. Shepherd, Isaac B. Peet, Samuel Ballard, Charles 
Brewer, Herbert Spencer, Andrew Fagin, Charles Cobb, 
Charles Carl, Peter Johnston, Perry Blend, Leonard 
Beach, Harvey Perkins, Frank Keynolds, Flora Dun- 
ham, Emma Dunham, Lena Brownell, Anna Whitmarsh, 
Kate Manchester, Miss Woodbeck, Delia Brewer, Ettie 
Rowe, Ettie Spencer, Ella Whitney, Alice Emmons, 
Ida Osterhout, Amy Barnes, Anna J. Biggs (Cannons- 
ville). Flora Beach, Lillie Swart, Alice C. Wright, Mar- 
tha Slosson, Sarah Brewer, Alice Betts, Ella Stewart, 
Agnes Wood, Alice Hathaway. 



Historical Sketches from The Oneonta Herald. 

The following article from The Oneonta Herald of 
December 14, 1882, will interest not only the compara- 
tively few remaining who knew and remember the man 
referred to, but also the many to whom the early history 
of our township has a fascination which attaches in 
other lands to historical or legendary accounts of days 
and scenes nmcli more remote. This article is from the 
pen of W. E. Yager. 

UNCLE JEKEMY AND HIS TIMES. 

Soon after the close of the Eevolutionary war, the 
fear of the Indians having been dissipated by the crush- 
ing defeat they had met at the hands of Sullivan, em- 
igrants from Albany and the country east began to seek 
homes in the fertile valley of the upper Susquehanna, 
at that time an extreme frontier. 

Among the earliest of these was Thomas Morenus. 
The title to the lands in this quarter of the state was 
originally in great patentees, owning thousands of acres 
which they had obtained from the government on easy 
terms. One of the chief of these land owners was 
Goldsbrow Banyar, whose grant comprised a very con- 
siderable portion of the lands opposite this village on 
the other side of the river. To Banyar Thomas More- 
nus made application for a tract of one hundred acres, 



150 HISTOKY OF 0^"EONTA. 

which was accorded him in consideration of the pay- 
ment of one hundred and twenty-five dollars. 

Making his way west, about the year 1793, from Al- 
bany county to the junction of the Schenevus and Sus- 
quehanna, the emigrant journeyed thence, by an Indian 
trail whose line was probably not far from that of the 
road between Oneonta and Colliers, to the other side of 
the river, where, leaving the trail, after a preliminary 
settlement higher up the mountain he finally located 
his purchase on the bluff opposite the Ked bridge and 
to the east of the present Amsden place. Here for the 
remainder of his life he dwelt, and there was passed 
the life of his son, Jeremiah T., who died on the morn- 
ing of Wednesday, in his eighty-ninth jenv, having 
been born in June, 1794. 

A grand tho' sombre scene must this valley have 
been at that time. Dense forests of evergreen lined 
the hillsides, while the interval was thickset with a 
heavy growth of hard wood. There was still an In- 
dian village at Colliers. Through the forest yet 
roamed herds of deer, bear were not uncommon, while 
at night might be heard the long drawn howl of the 
wolf or more rarely the strange cry of the catamount. 
If tho wood teemed with game, no less did the streams 
abound with fish ; not such as in these days serve to al- 
lure the truant schoolboy, but trout, pike and shad in 
size and number beyond the wildest dronm of a modern 
sportsman. 



HISTORICAL SKETCHES. 151 

j\Ii(l surroundings such as these did Thomas Morenus 
hew out his humble home, and in a cabin built of logs, 
with clay and moss, to stop the crevices, a great yawn- 
ing fire-place, the loom and spindle standing near. Uncle 
Jeremiah first saw the light. 

The family were not without neighbors. Over on 
the flat was the VanDerwerker saw mill. Beyond on 
what is now ]\Iain street, was a little story-and-a-half 
hotel, whose proprietor, by dint of industrious culti- 
vation of a tract of land stretching along the western 
side of what now is Dietz street, managed to obtain a 
comfortable living. There was also a house at the 
Oneonta Plains and another, possibly more, at Col- 
liers. As years passed, additional settlers came. 
Houghtaling, Hubbard, Seacraft, Adams, Brewer, 
Brink, Whitmarsh, are among the names thus added to 
the list of pioneers. 

Soon the forest began to show here and there great 
gaps ; game grew scarcer ; cornfields appeared ; a small 
stock of goods was placed in a little building not far 
from the hotel. 

Not unpleasant was the life of these sturdy frontiers- 
men. The soil was productive, and of corn and v;hcat 
there was enough. If cane sugar was unknown, there 
was maple in abundance, and tho' coffee and tea were 
unheard of at that date, they found a tolerable substi- 
tute in the leaf of the wintergreen and other herbs. 
Game and fish were generally to be had for the taking, 



152 HISTORY OF 0>'EOiN"TA. 

■while the few cattle and sheep driven along with them 
in their pilgrimage, grew apace in number, despite the 
foray now and then of a stray wolf. Perhaps the 
greatest privation in the bill of fare was from the dearth 
of fruit. It was not until Uncle Jeremy was a lad of 
fourteen that an orchard was planted, with seed brought 
by his sister from an eastern locality. As for clothing, 
there was little "store cloth" to be seen, but the home- 
spun prepared from the flax and wool of the farm 
proved quite as servicable; and so habituated had the 
old gentleman become to it, that he continued its use 
at intervals to the end of his days. 

In occupation there was variety. "They farmed it 
summers and lumbered it winters." All thro' the cold 
months the pioneers were busy with their axes, felling 
the great pines on the hillsides, which, cut into logs 
and rolled into the stream, were in springtime rafted 
down the river. The trip to Havre de Grace was not, 
however, the only way out of the wilderness. As the 
roads improved, a steady, tho' not very extensive, trade 
grew up with Albany. What grain could be trans- 
ported thither found a ready sale at remunerative pri- 
ces. The money obtained, with that derived from lum- 
bering, was applied in payment of the farms, many of 
which had been purchased on time. There was like- 
wise another source of revenue ; among the first build- 
ings to appear along the line of Mam street were two 
*'asheries." They were located below the present road, 



HISTORICAL SKETCHES. 153 

and were used for the manufacture of potash from wood 
ashes. At the ashery the ashes to be had for the 
burning from farms whence the owners wished to clear 
the hard wood, could be disposed of at ten cents a 
bushel. 

Thus matters stood at the breaking out of the second 
war with England. Uncle Jeremy was then a stout 
boy of twenty, with a healthy love of adventure, which, 
as the day of the "Tories and Injuns" was for this part 
of the country passed, he gratified by enlistment in com- 
pany with several of his companions against the "Brit- 
ishers." The experience of the recruits was by no 
means exciting, however, as most of their time was 
passed in camp on Manhattan Island. 

Eeturning from the war, he shortly exchanged the 
sword for the scythe, and marrying a few years later, 
settled down upon the old place to his former life of 
farmer and lumberman, the latter pursuit passing into 
desuetude, as the forests melted away. 

Quietly he toiled. A family came to him, Cares 
increased, Busied in his daily labor, did he notice 
how every day the scene about him changed ? how the 
meadows widened, how the cornfields broadened, how 
the farm houses grew thicker and thicker ? Still he was 
the same. Still he lived in the house which his father 
had built years before, to take the place of the cabin 
where he was born. Still he went every day to his 
honest work in the good old-fashioned manner. But 



154 HISTORY OF ONEONTA. 

"the village" was changing. Store after store, house 
after house, was added to the little hamlet of his boy- 
hood. !N"ew roads were built. Turnpikes brought 
trade and travel. Oneonta began to be heard of. Then 
came the struggle for a railroad. He could remember 
well when a trail thro' the woods was all they wanted. 
Locomotives were undreamt of when he was a boy. 
What next? Well, the railroad came, and with it de- 
pendent industries. Then followed the marvelous 
growth of the last decade — all these changes within the 
lifetime of this one man. 

Of German descent, Uncle Jeremy was short and 
rather slight in build, but hale and hearty to a remark- 
able degree. So keen was his eyesight, that up to the 
time of his death it was his habit to read the papers, 
in which occupation he took great pleasure, by the light 
of a candle and without the aid of spectacles. No less 
vigorous in mind was this hardy pioneer, than in body. 
His memory was most remarkable, extending to minute 
particulars of his early days, and ranging thence with 
more or less distinctness, thro' all the leading events 
in his after life and the history of the community in 
which he so long has been a landmark. Doubtless his 
kind heart and cheerful, easy-going disposition had 
much to do in keeping hale and sound both mind and 
bodv- 



niSTOEICAL SKETCHES. 155 

AN ANCIENT VILLAGE SITE. 

A very remarkable discovery was brought to light 
in April, 1887, upon the well-known Slade flats at the 
junction of the Charlotte with the Susquehanna, on the 
south side of the latter stream, at a point some two 
miles above this village. During a period of high 
water a broad current w^as in some way diverted from 
the main channel across a bench of alluvial land rising 
two or three feet above the general level of the neigh- 
boring banlv. The field having been plowed in the fall 
and the soil to the depth of two feet or more consisting 
mainly of a fine alluvium, a gully two or three rods 
wide and as many feet deep, to the clay subsoil, was cut 
clear across the field, for some rods — to a "binnacle" 
or overflow putting out from the main stream at some 
distance below. The current does not appear to have 
been very sw^ft and in consequence objects of some 
weight contained in the soil were left behind as the 
latter filtered away. 

For ten days or a fortnight the flowed section was 
under water. When the flood subsided, Mr. Slade 
and his son paid a visit to the place to ascertain the ex- 
tent of the damage, when what was tlieir surprise to 
note in the bottom of the new-made channel many frag- 
ments of rude pottery mingled with flint chips, arrow 
and spear points and similar remains. They gathered 
many, and the news of the discovery spreading, the spot 
was visited by many persons. 



156 HISTORY OF ONEONTA. 

The site laid bare by the flood is imquestionably 
that of an aboriginal village. Altogether some two 
thousand fragments of pottery have been taken from a 
few square rods of surface exposed, together with a 
hundred spear and arrow points — many of them of un- 
usual form — several flint drills, as many "sharpening 
stones," two small granite axes, numerous "sinkers," 
etc., etc. Several ancient fire places, of river cobbles 
bedded together, were disclosed, from one of which 
not less than a peck of charcoal fragments was exhumed. 
The pottery, several pieces of which show an exterior 
surface of three or four square inches, is both plain 
and ornamental, the latter in most intricate design. 
One fragment shows a human face, but straight lines 
variously combined and curious punctured patterns are 
the prevailing type. Rims and edges, being the thick- 
est and least perishable portions, abound in the collec- 
tions made. The plain pottery is remarkably hard and 
well preserved, and in both plain and ornamental the 
inside surface is in most cases of a black color in strong 
contrast with the brick red or chocolate hue of the exter- 
ior. 

The collections made would prove of interest to the 
most casual observer. Whether they are the remains 
of a red race may be doubted. The top soil in the 
neighborhood abounds in ordinary Indian relics, arrow 
and spear points, "hammer stones," and the like — ^but 
it contains no sign of this pottery. Tradition runs. 



IIISTOKICAL SKETCHES, 157 

too, that tliere was an Indian village in the locality. 
But it might well have existed two feet above the level 
laid bare by the flood. For there is nothing to prove 
that the soil had before been disturbed for ages. Tf 
indeed this be the site of the Indian village, then is it 
to be said that there can hardly exist that difference 
between the Indians and the mysterious Moimdbuild- 
ers which has been commonly supposed, for the pottery 
obtained on the Slade flats is precisely the same with 
the pottery exhumed in western mounds. 

It may be remarked in connection with this sub- 
ject that a so-called '"Indian mound" exists on Walling's 
Island not for below this ancient village site ; that there 
is another near the mouth of the Otego creek, a third 
at Sidney and a fourth in the Unadilla valley. 

]\Iany of the more interesting articles found on Slade's 
flats came into possession of Willard E. Yager, and were 
added to his very extensive collection of Indian relics 
which was, unfortunately, lost at tlie burning of rhc tirst 
l^ormal building in February, 1894. 

Concerning the Indian mound on "Walling's Island, 
above referred to, the following from the pen of Mr. 
Yager will be of interest: 

A short distance below tlie ])oint where the Char- 
lotte creek unites with the Susquehanna, which may be 
two and a-half miles above the village, the river forks, 
a branch sweeping around close to the base of the high 



158 HISTORY OF ONEONTA. 

hills that rise to the east of Oneonta, while the main 
stream flows a little to the south of west, receiving the 
branch again at the base of a steep hill or blufi^, whose 
wooded face, looking to the northward, is plainly vis- 
ible from the village. 

The very considerable area of flat land enclosed by 
this ramification of the river, is known as Walling's 
Island. At this season of year, when the stream that 
separates it from the mainland is in many places al- 
most dry, the island is easily accessible. 

In fall and spring thro' the intervening channel 
passes a considerable body of water, which in earlier 
times, when the forests regulated the flow, was, they 
tell me, constant. 

Fifty years ago this piece of ground, in common with 
others in this vicinity, was quite heavily wooded with 
beech, birch, maple and basswood, trees eighteen inches 
thro' being plentiful. It is now, in general, but a 

stretch of grassland, with an occasional butternut by 
(vay of shade, or a scraggy apple tree, the latter per- 
haps a relic of the pioneers. 

A few acres are under plow, and a characteristic of 
the soil which cannot fail to strike the attention of one 
who visits the spot, is its remarkable freedom from 
stones, tho' these in all sizes abound of course in the 
channels that surround the little prairie. Its surface 
is altogether level, save where the waters at some unu- 
sually high tide Imve cut here and there a cross channel. 



HISTOKICAL SKETCHES. 159 

or "slang," as they are termed by farmers along the 
stream. As one passes from the foot of the island 
up-stream, traversing perhaps two-thirds its length, his 
progress is interrupted somewhat by one of those nat- 
ural sluices, rather deeper than the average, tho' long 
disused and grassed over at the bottom as thickly as the 
banks themselves. 

Just upon the edge of this ancient stream-bed rises 
an oblong knoll or mound, about twelve feet above the 
level of the field at its summit, whence the slope is 
regular to the base, in size perhaps forty feet by thirty. 
The mound is at present overgrown with bushes, low 
sumacs and brambles, and might not at first, perchance, 
excite curiosity. 

Owners of the land, however, years ago, took notice 
of the fact that this is the only elevation of ground on 
the island, and examined it with considerable attention. 
They reached the conclusion that the mound was of ar- 
tificial origin and was the work of the Indians who long 
ago dwelt in this region. 

There is much in the appearance of the hillock to 
support such a theory: It is composed mainly of 
stones, tho' considerable soil is intermingled, perhaps 
from design, perhaps by the operation of natural 
causes; we have already alluded to the circumstances 
that the surrounding land is almost free from stone. 
Evidently the mound has existed for more than a cen- 
tury; for near its summit is the stump of a hardwood 



160 HISTORY OF ONEONTA. 

tree, which could not have been less than twenty inches 
thro' when growing, tho' now so decayed as to crumble 
at the touch. Its shape is very peculiar ; its occurrence, 
singly, in the midst of an unbroken level, yet more in- 
explicable upon any theory of natural origin. 

Beyond all question the island was a great resort of 
the Indians. When first the soil was plowed, arrow 
and spear points of flint were uncovered by hundreds, 
and not more than three years since, in passing thro' 
a cornfield some distance south of the mound, the 
writer picked up a score or two of these interesting 
relics as they lay scattered between the rows of corn. 
It is stated, moreover, by those most familiar with 
the locality, that only arrow heads, stone hatchets and 
other remains of warlike character are to be foimd on 
the island. Naturally, then, one is disposed to believe 
that a battle once was fought not far from where this 
mound now stands, and that its material was then col- 
lected and heaped together as a monument and tomb. 

A member of the family whence the island derives 
its name tells us, however, that he always heard it said 
the mound was formed, in the course of many years, 
in consequence of a custom among the Indians who dwelt 
here, that each man of them passing near the spot should 
leave a stone there. Now it is stated by antiquarians 
who have studied Indian usages, that in the way des- 
cribed by this gentleman, the aborigines were accus- 
tomed to mark the spot where occurred heinous murders 




Fox Memorial Hospital. Oneonta. N. Y. 



HISTORICAL SKETCHES. 161 

or other crimes, and perhaps therefore this curious 
hillock, if, as supposed, of Indian origin, but commem- 
orates an event in their history. 

Xo serious endeavor has ever been made to clear 
up the mystery, by an excavation of the mound, tho' 
this would be an undertaking of no very arduous char- 
acter, as the stones comprising it are not of large size 
and the soil interspersed is loose and yielding. It 
might be well for some enterprising person to take the 
matter in hand. 




Recollections of Harvey Baker. 

AN HISTORICAL SKETCH OF "baRN HILl/' 

Barn hill, long before the white man beheld the Em- 
pire state, or it had a name and defined location in ]^ew 
Netherland, was occupied by the Iroquois Indians, and 
was ninnbered among their most noted ''Susquehanna 
possessions." After the province of Ncav York had 
been formed it was within that province as a parcel of 
Albany county. After the close of the old French 
war and before the days of the American Revolution,^ 
it was located in Tryon county. After the close of the 
war of 1784, the county name was changed to Mont- 
gomery, and in 1Y88 it was in the town of Otsego in 
that county. In 1791, when Otsego county was formed^ 
Barn Hill was in the town of Unadilla in that new 
county. The towns of Otego and Suffrage were formed 
in 179G, and Barn Hill was then in the southern portion 
of the latter town. In 1801 the name Suffrage was 
changed to Milford, and in 1817, when the post office 
was formed and named, it was in the village of Milford- 
ville, its first officially defined locality. In 18'J0 the 
town of Onoonta was formed by state legislative enact- 
ment and Barn Hill was then as now near the contra! 
soutliern boundary of the town and near the middle of 
the new-formed village of that name. 

Its precise location is nearly south of the junction of 



RECOLLECTIONS OF HARVEY BAKER. 163 

Main and Chestnut streets and just on the southerly 
line of the Albany & Susquehanna railroad and distant 
about eighty-two miles westerly from xilbany and six- 
ty-one miles easterly from Binghamton. Barn Hill 
was originally an oblong hill of an elevation of about 
thirty feet above its surrondings, and in olden times em- 
braced an area of about three acres of land. Its top 
was level and it was clear from trees or even shrubs 
when first seen by white men, although it was sur- 
rounded with an evergreen forest of large trees, dense 
in foliage and of great height, 

On its northern, eastern and western sides it was 
surrounded by an impassable swamp, and close under 
its base on the south flowed the stream knoA\Ti as Silver 
creek, which furnished the power for the first mill 
erected witliin the limits of the town. 

The hill was united to the highlands on the north- 
west by a ridge which, passing as a sort of roadway 
between the two northern and western swamps, also 
formed the route for the Indian trail which came doAvn 
Main street. The trail passed close under the western 
base of Barn Hill, then followed westerly and southerly 
along the western bank of Silver creek to where its 
clear, cold waters joined the Susquehanna. 

The ridge before named passed almost directly where 
the railroad line now is, and it was removed when that 
work was constructed. This ridge also formed an 
easy passage to the top of Barn Hill, both on foot and 



164 niSTOEY OF ONEONTA. 

with teams, and was for many years a means for in- 
gress and egress to and from the top of that notable 
eminence. It received the name of ''Barn Hill/ from 
the fact that years ago William Angel, a pioneer citi- 
zen of Oneonta, and a carpenter of remarkable skill, 
erected a barn upon it. 

Previous to that time the eminence was called In- 
dian hill from the fact that the Six JsTations had long 
been accustomed to occupy it as a council ground and 
a lookout. 

These traditions are confirmed by the fact that from 
the top of the hill can now be seen the site of the In- 
dian orchards and Indian village of Wauteghe. just 
east of the mouth of the Otego creek, and also the In- 
dian village of Onahricton, located just westerly of the 
"Adiguatangue" or Charlotte creek,the exact location of 
which was correctly settled by the investigations pur- 
sued for its proof by our townsman, W. E. Yager. 

This level topped hill, ever since settlers began to 
form a hamlet in its vicinity has filled an important 
niche in the village history. It was a place for athletic 
sports, quoits, ball plays, wrestling matches and foot 
races. It was the best place for military parades and 
company trainings. It was the place for bonfires and 
for feats of marksmanship. It was the first and only 
place used for the booming of cannon in announcement 
of success of all important events. Here echoed forth 
the gims fired in honor of the opening of the Erie canal 



RECOLLECTIONS OF IIAIIVEY BAKER. 165 

in 1825, of the passage of the turnpike and railroad 
charters in our county and state, of the triumph of free 
suffrage, of free schools, and every important public 
measure of our country's early civil and social ad- 
vancement. 

The McDonalds early became the owners of this 
memorable hill, and its nearby surroundings. Some 
years later William Angel, one of Oneonta's pioneers 
in public improvements, obtained and for some years 
had possession of this coveted hill, and erected a barn 
thereon, known then, as before stated, as Barn Hill, 
and first as Indian Hill, it was once called "Barren 
Hill," as not a tree or a shrub grew thereon. It was 
but a trifling change of sound from "barren" to "'barn." 

In the decade of 1820 Mr. Angel took down the barn 
and moved it to the corner of Mechanic and ^fain street. 
The writer has himself moved some of the old founda- 
tion tinibers and some of them still remain. After 
Sylvester Ford, the father of Eliakim E. Ford, pur- 
chased the place now known as the Peters place, the barn 
was moved on the lands of Collier & Goodyear, near 
where Fairview street now stands; and in 1842, by an 
arrangement with Collier & Goodyear, this barn came 
into the possession and occupancy of Mr. Ford. Later 
it came from ^fr. Goodyear into the ownership of Mr. 
Peters. 

The old Indian trail passed just dovm at the western 
base of the hill, and to-day (July 23d, 1895), T saw in 



166 HISTORY OF 0^'EONTA. 

the excavation for the sewer the base of one of the piles 
of stone gathered by the Indians, Another and larger 
pile was directly at the sonthwest corner of the hill and 
jnst east of the northeast corner of the old house which 
was torn dow^n by M. N. Elwell about two years ago. 
This pile of stone was removed in 1842 and used in 
repairing the saw mill dyke, Avhicli then had begun to 
form a breach. The large yellow willow now standing 
near the new mill sprang from one of several branches 
driven in at that turn to strengthen the embankment. 

To-day (July 27th)), the workmen engaged in ex- 
cavating the sewer unearthed the bottom of the old mill 
dam at a depth of nine or ten feet and a few rods further 
south the flume and rack, which conveyed water to the 
first grist mill erected by the McDonalds, were also 
unearthed. The water power to supply the saw mill, 
the clothing works and grist mill first erected by the Mc- 
Donalds, was all furnished by Silver creek, and it was 
several years before any water was received for such 
use from the river. 

In speaking of the Indian piles of stone it should be 
mentioned that it was the custom of the Indians to mark 
their trails by piles of small stones, each Indian passing 
adding one to the pile as they were journeying past them. 

In May, 1841, the old McDonald saw mill was re- 
paired. In 1843 I tore it down and built the one 
which was a few years ago removed. The sites of these 
mills are now buried beneath the earth of Barn Hill. 



KECOLLECTIOXS OF HARVEY BAKER. 167 

This hill and mill property was purchased by Peter 
Collier and Jared Goodyear of James McDonald in 
1829, and from that date until the present spring the 
title of most of this property has not changed, sixty 
years being a long time for lands in the very heart of 
Oneonta to remain unchanged in title or actual pos- 
session. From 1842 to 1850 I was half owner of the 
mill property, but Barn Hill was not included in the 
purchase. 

I have stated that the booming ground for cannon 
had been on Barn Hill for almost an entire century. 
During these years two accidents worthy of notice have 
occurred in that dangerous business. On the evening 
of May 18th, 1842, the young men of the vicinity 
met on the booming gTOund to try a new cannon. Among 
them was Roe, the youngest son of James McDonald. 
He was an employe in the office of the "Oneonta Weekly 
Journal," which was then published by William J. 
Knapp, a son of Roe's half sister. By some means 
Roe was struck by the discharge of the cannon and the 
flesh of his leg from the knee to the hip was blown or 
torn off to the bone. Dr. Hamilton and Dr. S. H. Case 
dressed the limb, and he was carefully carried to his 
home, the old ^IcDonald house on the north corner of 
Main and River streets. For weeks these physicians 
together daily dressed the wound, their care and atten- 
tive nursing bringing Roe slowly but surely from death 
to life. It was late in September before the victim 



168 HISTORY OF ONEONTA. 

was able to move about the room and yard. During 
these long warm summer months of suffering Edgar 
Reynolds (the eldest son of John Reynolds, and brother 
of our townsman, George Reynolds of Grand street), 
was the constant attendant and nurse of the suffering- 
boy and no doubt this care helped its full share toward 
final convalesence. A better or kinder man than Ed- 
gar Reynolds never lived. 

Young McDonald recovered, and for ten years there- 
after carried on his occupation of printer, and finally, 
on June 22d, 1852, he died at the home of his mother 
in Oneonta of consumption. His remains now rest 
in the family plot in the Riverside cemetery. 

July 4th, 1872, another accident occurred on Barn 
Hill. It was a day noted as one of tea gift sales, 
clambakes, and sports of various kinds. General S. 
S, Burnside loaned the state brass cannon to add its 
full share to the interest of the day. While Peter R. 
Green was engaged in ramming a cartridge into the 
gun the charge exploded and literally blew the arm from 
the young man's shoulder. Great as was the shock, he 
survived, and still lives and has a fair promise of still 
many years of useful life. After this accident the 
state called in the v:v.n. The cannon which wounded 
Roe was never seen after tliat memorable ]\[ay night 
in 1842. No doubt it still rests in one of the nearby 
swamps, to which somebody trusted its future safety. 

A short time hence Barn Hill, with its traditions, 



RECOLLECTIONS? OF IIAKVEY BAKEK. 1G9 

memories, incidents and accidents, will be numbered 
among the things of the past. The march of improve- 
ments has decided its fate, but its best days of useful- 
ness are, no doubt, in the future. Its past is but his- 
tory. Its future is opening a term of progress and 
great development, fulfilling in part at least the pro- 
phecy of the millennial day when every valley shall 
be exalted and every hill brought low. 

THE ONEONTA MILITLV. 

Oneonta's militia record will require but a short 
chapter. The first of such record found in the adju- 
tant general's office which comes near our locality is 
of the date of 1806. At that date Mathew Cully of 
Milford was made lieutenant colonel in the Sixth regi- 
ment, and Alfred Crafts of Otego, now Laurens, was 
made captain. The two commissions bear date March 
19th, 1806. 

The commission of John McDonald as captain of an 
infantry company, which was the first company of mil- 
itia ever formed in this town, bears date February 29, 
1812. Joseph Mumford of Milford was lieutenant 
colonel. This organization of infantry seems to have 
been continued. The company roll of 1828 shows Eli- 
akim R. Ford its captain, David Marvin lieutenant and 
Jacob Newkirk ensign. This roll is under date of 
September 1st, 1828, and is in Captain E. R. Ford's 
handwriting, John M. Watkins was first sergeant, 



170 HISTORY OF ONEONTA. 

William Smith secoud sergeant, Leander McDonald 
third sergeant and Clark W. Baker fourth sergeant. 
The roll contains forty-one names of officers and pri- 
vates. The roll of 1831 shows David Marvin as cap- 
tain and John M. Watkins as ensign. This roll con- 
tains fifty-eight names as attending drill September 
4th, 1831. John M. Watkins was commissioned cap- 
tain of the company to date from August 25th, 1832, 
But the commission was signed by Governor W. L. 
Marcy and Adjutant-General John A. Dix, the 5tli 
day of January. 1833. The roll of September 3d, 
1832, contains eighty-eight names, of which sixty-three 
were present at drill. Among the list are the names 
of most of the old citizens of this region. Jacob Mor- 
rell and Sylvanus Smith were fifers. Jacob Hillsinger 
and Henry Smith were drummers. Among the pri- 
vates we find the names of John Cutshaw, Levi Tarbox, 
Abram Blend, Aaron Ford, Joseph and James Fern, 
Henry Yager, David and Daniel Sullivan, Frederick 
Bornt, besides many other familiar names and old citi- 
zens of this vicinity. Joseph Walling was first ser- 
geant, John D. Yager second, Harvey Carpenter third, 
and Peter Yager fourth. Solomon Yager was first 
corporal, Chauncey M. Brewer second, Oliver McDon- 
ald third, and David Yager, jr., the fourth. In 1834 
John M. Watkins resigned his commission, and was 
granted an honorable discharge. 

This shows sufficiently the standing and position of 



KECOLLECTIONS OF HARVEY BAKER. 171 

the militia of Oneonta at that early date. It also shows 
that its commanding officers were at the time of receiv- 
ing their commissions comparatively yonng men. John 
McDonald was commissioned captain at the age of 27 
years. He was the eldest son of James McDonald, 
and was a man of fine physique, well educated for the 
times. Mrs. John M. Watkins and Mrs. Andrew G. 
Shaw were his daughters. He was born in 1S25. 

John M. Watkins was born in 1806, He was com- 
missioned captain at the age of 26 years. His resi- 
dence was in this town from his birth until his death, 
except the few years which he spent in the Merchants' 
hotel in Albany. He died April 25th, 1890, in his 
84th year. 

The Third Separate company was formed August 
5th, 1875, with Henry G. Wood as captain. Captain 
Wood's commission bears date of July 26th, 1875, The 
general order for the organization of the company 
was issued August 10th, 1875, Franklin To^^^lsend, 
adjutant general. At its organization it had 103 

members, including officers and privates. Its first 

officers were men who had earned fame in the great 
war of the rebellion. Captain Wood was an officer 
under Generals Custer and Sheridan in the cavalry. 
He was an able and competent officer, well versed in 
military tactics, and also in civil affairs as a private 
citizen. The fir?t lieutenant of the military company 
was William H. IMorris, the second was Xathan Hem- 



172 HISTORY OF ONEONTA. 

street. Simply the names of the three first officers of 
the Third Separate company are alone enough to war- 
rant its success. 

To such an extent had this company inspired the puh- 
lic confidence that in 1885, on Thursday, the 18th day 
of June, the corner stone of a state armory was laid 
and the work completed that year. The puhlic-spirited 
people of Oneonta, by private subscription, had the 
year previous purchased the site for the armory and con- 
veyed it to the state. The result was the erection and 
sustaining of a state armory and drill room and shooting- 
hall, which are alike an honor to the state and also to 
the village of Oneonta. The building occupies a 

prominent position on the eminence on the north side 
of Fairview street, at a point where it is in fair view of 
all the travel upon the line of the D. & H. railroad as 
well as from the public highways approaching the vil- 
lage. 

Captain Walter Scott was the second commissioned 
captain of the Third Separate company. His commis- 
sion bears the date of September 28th, 1886. Under 
the command and able management of Captain Scott 
the company lost none of its prestige or high moral and 
military standing. 

Captain Scott resigned in 1898, when he was com- 
missioned as Major of the First regiment of the vState 
guard. He was succeeded as captain by Ursil A. Fer- 
guson, under whose command the company served dur- 



EECOLLECTIONS OF HARVEY BAKER. 173 

ing the Spanish-American war. Captain Ferguson 
retained the command until November 22, 1905, when 
he resigned. During the absence of the Third Separ- 
ate, now known as Company G, a provisional company 
was organized, which, after the return of Company G 
was disbanded. This company was knowTi as the 103d 
Separate Company, and Douglas W. Miller was com- 
mander. 

THE SITE OF THE BAIRD BLOCK. 

Previous to the Revolution, the traditions of the early 
settlers name the site of the Baird block as the location 
of an Indian wigwam. The old Indian trail passed 
just south of it, nearly where the center of Main street 
now is. Upon this corner and the Stanton block corner 
and the lands of Chestnut street, between them was a 
high knoll or ridge with a steep bank upon its south 
and with its north side flanlced by a narrow but almost 
impassable marsh. The marsh extended from near 
the old Lindsay house on its west end to some distance 
above the Stanton block, its northeastern terminus. 
On the opposite or south side of the trail, at the foot of 
the bank, commenced quite a large swamp, which ex- 
tended from the old river at the hill east of the depot, 
and included all the flat lands now lying south of Main 
street and north of the mill race. The creek, now 
known as Silver creek, then wound its meandering 
course through the swamp, and found its discharge in 



174 HISTORY OF OXEONTA. 

the river at the same phice and in the same channel 
as now does the waste water from the mill pond and the 
flow from the upper Main street sewer. 

At what date the original forest was cleared from 
this lot, tradition tells not. There early stood upon 
the site an old log house, and the stumps of the former 
forest had then wholly disappeared. This old house 
was occupied by the parents of the late David Morrell 
of Dietz street. He was born in that old log house 
April 15th, 180G, and there spent the early years of his 
boyhood life. These facts were related by Mr. Morrell 
himself. 

As the swamp above named occupied all the space be- 
tween this ridge of land and the river, of course the 
first road of the white man must have taken the line of 
the former Indian trail. Such is almost conclusive 
evidence that this land was cleared and occupied pre- 
vious to the Revolution, as we know Oneonta had many 
occupants previous to that war. That the house was 
old and dilapidated at the time of Mr. Morrell's birth 
is evidenced by the further fact that it was torn down 
and others erected on the site previous to 1815. About 
that date a small frame house was erected on each front 
or Main street corner of the lot. The one on its south- 
west corner was afterwards occupied by David Fair- 
child, the father of Mrs. DeWitt Ford, and the one on 
the opposite or southwest corner by William Ilnapp. 

The next building erected on f]\o s\te of the block 



RECOLLECTIONS OF HAKVEY BAKER. 175 

was a story and half house built by a firm known as 
Smith & Couse. Business complications broke up this 
firm, and the property passed into the possession of 
William Angell. That building formed the oldest por- 
tion of the hotel. It was a very good building for 
those days, Edmund Aleigs, about 1833, purchasd the 
house and lot of Mr. Angell and took immediate pos- 
session of it. lie also purchased a farm of him which 
embraced most of the lands in the northwestern part of 
the third ward of the village. These farm lands were 
after^vards ownied by Enoch Copley and later by Solon 
Himtington. Mrs. Dr. S. II. Case was a daughter of 
Mr. Meigs, and her marriage was solemnized in the 
southwest front room of that house, it then being the 
front parlor. The ceremony was performed August 
20th, 1834. Later another daughter of Mr. IMcigs was 
married in the same room. 

After a few years the property passed again into the 
possession of William Angell and from him to one Eli- 
jah King, and later to the possession of Eoderick J. 
and Carlton Emmons. They opened and kept the 
first hotel upon the premises. This was about the mid- 
dle of the decade of 1830. They kept it as a public 
house a year or two, and were followed by a man by the 
name of Griswold, who also kept a public house. Its 
next occupant was Elihu Brown. He moved into it 
about 1837 or 1838. He continued the hotel business 
until the spring of 1841 when it passed into the hands 



176 HISTORY OF OXEOXTA. 

of Alfred Potter. Its name bad now become tbe "Ot- 
sego House/' and tbe botel was advertised under tbat 
name in tbe Oneonta Weekly Journal, tbe first paper 
publisbed in Oneonta. 

In 1841 it started again under tbe firm name of Fish 
& Green. James Green was a son-in-law of tbe late 
William Ricbardson. Tbey soon commenced making 
arrangements for its enlargement, and tbe following 
year, 1843, anotber story was added to its heigbt, it 
was enlarged, and a piazza added to its Main street 
front. They soon dissolved and James Green alone 
for a year or so carried on tbe business, wben be failed 
and went west. 

After this Jobn M. Watkins was its landlord 
for a year or two, and be was followed by Silas Sulli- 
van. Tben about 1850, came 'N. & S. M. Ballard, who 
were followed by a Mr. Wbite about 1856. Tben came 
Place & Hunting-ton. Tbey were succeeded in 1865 
by Place & Morris. Tben came Jobn Tice. Some 
time during tbe decade of 1860 tbe name Otsego House 
was changed to Susquehanna House. Next it was kept 
by Ballard & Bowen. They dissolved and were suc- 
ceeded by S. M. Ballard, who continued for a while 
and was followed by W. M. Potter. His successor 
was O. M. Hughston. After Hugbston came S. M. 
Ballard again, after whose death came Stanton & Camp. 
They dissolved and were succeeded by L. A. Stanton, 
and it finally closed in 1892 with ]\rarsball & Odekirk. 




Dietz Street, north of Walnut. 1870 



RECOLLECTIOXS OF HARVEY BAKER. 177 

The number, counting two landlords while run by firms, 
is 27 in about 57 years. But counting the landlords 
as single individuals,the number would be nineteen,malv- 
ing an average continuance of about three years each 
in the business. 

SUPERVISORS OF ONEOXTA. 

In 1807-8 James Westcott was supervisor of Otego, 
of which Oneonta was a part. In 1809-13, Ezra Ad- 
ams was supervisor. In 1814- John Moore was super- 
visor. In 1815, John Dietz. In 1816-17, John 
Moore. In 1818, John Badger. In 1819-24, Pet-er 
Collier was supervisor. In 1825-26, Jacob Dietz was 
supervisor. From 1827 to 1830, inclusive, Peter Col- 
lier was supervisor. 

In 1830,April 17th, the town of Oneonta was formed, 
taking therefor a portion of each of the to\^^ls of Mil- 
ford, Otego, Ilimtsville and Davenport, and the year fol- 
lowing it commenced electing its own town ofiicers. 
The following is a list of supervisors in the order of their 
election and terms of service: 

1830-3, William Kichardson; 1834-5, William An- 
gell; 1836-8, Samuel Betts, jr. ; 1838-9, William An- 
gell; 1840, Samuel H. Case; 1841, Wiliam W. Snow; 
1842, Timothy Sabin; 1843, Carleton Emmons; 1844- 
6, Eliakim R. Ford; 1847, Enos S. Brown; 1848, John 
M. Watkins; 1849, Carleton Emmons; 1850, Jono- 
than Brewer; 1851, Luman S. Osborn; 1852-3, Carle- 



178 HISTORY OF OXEONTA. 

ton Emmons; 1854, James F. Dean; 1855, David J. 
Yager; 1856-7, Samuel H. Case; 1858, Harvey Baker; 
1859, Silas Sullivan; 1860, Hosea A. Hamilton; 1861, 
John Cope jr.; 1862-3, Stephen Parish; 1864-72, John 
Cope jr; 1873-4, William W. Snow; 1875, George 
Scramling; 1876-7, William H. Morris; 1878, Walter 
L. Brown; 1879-80, Henry G. Wood; 1881, J. E. L. 
Walling; 1882-8, Walter L. Brown; 1889, DeForest 
Wilber; 1890-9, Henry Bull; 1899-03, M. C. Hem- 
street; 1903 , Charles Smith. 

ONEONTA VILLAGE INCOIIPOEATION. 

The first incorporation of the village of Oneonta was 
obtained in 1848. Application was made at the June 
term of the court of sessions of Otsego county, ''in the 
the matter of the incorporation of Oneonta village, in 
the town of Oneonta, county of Otsego, in which, upon 
the petition of Samuel J. Cook, Worthington Wright, 
CoUis P. Huntington, Samuel H. Case and others, on 
reading and filing a surety, census, notice of application, 
etc., * * * on the report of Horace Lathrop, 
James B. Angell, and H. G. Harding, dated August 
15th, the county judge, James Hyde" ordered that an 
election be held and a vote taken for or against such 
incorporation. 

The order named the 14th day of October for such 
vote, and the hotel of John M. Watkins as the place of 
holding such election. 



EECOLI.ECTIOKS OF KAEVEY BAKER. 179 

Sucli vote was taken and the certificate of the inspec- 
tors of such election, who were John McCrany and E. 
C. Hodge, shows that "the whole number of votes given 
at such election was eighty-two, of which the number 
having thereon the word 'yes' was sixty-six and the 
number having thereon the word 'no' was sixteen." 

Of all the eighty-two names contained in the above 
named poll list the following still live in Oneonta vil- 
lage, viz : Andrew G. Shaw, William McCrum, Tim- 
othy D. Watkins, and DeWitt Ford. 

After a careful examination of the list, I can remem- 
ber but a sing'le voter within the corporate bounds whose 
name does not appear on the list. That one name is 
that of William H. Olin. Why he did not vote I can- 
not assign any satisfactory reason, for he was the ac- 
tive party in obtaining the incorporation. This cer- 
tified poll list becomes a part of the official incorpora- 
tion papers. It was a move of much importance to 
our people, and my recollection is that nearly every le- 
gal voter cast his vote either for or against the measure. 

The completed papers of Judge Hyde, the clerk's 
certificate and the map and bounds of the incorporated 
tract, containing 657 acres of land, all bear date of Oc- 
tober 27th, 1848. 

It will thu be seen that the affirmative vote of six- 
ty-six of our citizens decided the question of our incor- 
poration as an incorporated village, which was affirmed 
by Judge James Hyde at the date above named. 



180 HISTORY OF ONEONTA. 

Oneonta's first village election was lield December 2d, 

1848. The following are the names of the officers 
elected : for trustees, Eliakim R. Ford, Hezekiah Wat- 
kins, William Bronson, William S. Fritts, Samuel J. 
Cook; assessors, John Cutshaw, Elisha Shepherd, Eph- 
riam C. Hodge; village clerk, William H. Olin; treas- 
urer, Andrew G. Shaw; collector, John McCrany; 
poundmaster, Solon Huntington; street commissioners, 
Collis P. Hunting-ton, Harvey Baker, Hosea A. Ham- 
ilton. 

The poll list of the village election shows that 28 
votes were cast, and E. R. Ford was the only candidate 
who received the entire 28 votes. The to^\^l inspectors 
again acted as inspectors of this first officer election. 
E. R. Ford was by the trustees made the first president 
of Oneonta village. 

William H. Olin (the late Eev. Dr. Olin), was then 
a rising young lawyer in Oneonta, and on March 7th, 

1849, it was resolved and adopted to levy the sum of 
fifty-six dollars and five cents upon the taxable property 
within the incorporation for the purpose of paying Wm. 
H. Olin the necessary and proper expenses of procur- 
ing the incorporation. This resolution was indorsed 
by E. E. Ford, president. 

We had already a fire organization and a small fire 
engine and C. P. Huntington was foreman of the com- 
pany. I will relate an incident that occurred about 
1845 or 1846. The fire company, under the command 



KECOLLECTIOXS OF HARVEY BAKER. 181 

of their foreman, came down to the mill race between 
the saw and grist mill for practice, as was often the 
custom. After practicing for some time throwing 
water in various directions, some one proposed to try 
the stream on the grist mill window in its westerly 
gable. I was then half owner of the mill property 
with Messrs. Collier and Goodyear, and had it under 
my charge. Mr. Huntington himself had the hose 
pipe in hand and asked me, ''Shall I try it?" "Yes, fire 
away, I will risk the window," was my prompt reply. 
No sooner said than done. The sash and glass were 
shattered in an instant. "Don't throw water in the 
mill, as I have gTain there," was my immediate appeal, 
but the position was so oblique that scarcely any water 
entered it. A bin of from 100 to 150 bushels of wheat 
was nearly under the window but it received no damage. 
Mr. Huntington offered to pay me for the window, but 
I assured him it was my risk and not his. The quick- 
ness of its destruction was a source of much satisfaction 
as well as surprise to the fire company. Our to^vns- 
man, William McCrum, was one of the fire boys who 
had hold of the engine brake at the time. "How's the 
grist mill window and the bin of wheat?" was the in- 
quiry I often heard for some weeks after the incident, 
when I happened to meet one of the boys. Mr. Hunt- 
ington made a splendid head officer for a fire company. 
The second corporation election was held March 7th, 
1849. The poll list is not preserved but the inspectors^ 



182 HISTOEY OF ONEONTA. 

list is. Eighty-three votes were cast. Eliakim R. 
Ford, Hezekiah Watkins, William Bronson, Samuel J. 
Cook were elected trustees. John Cutshaw, David 
T. Evans, and Ephriam Hodge were elected assessors. 
Hosea A. Hamilton and Harvey Baker were elected 
street commissioners. Solon Huntington, pound- 

master, by eighty-three votes. 

The third officer election was held March 10th, 1850. 
E. R. Ford, H. Watkins, James T. Wild, S. H. Case, 
and E. W. Bennett were elected trustees. W. H. Olin, 
clerk ; John McCrany, collector ; Solon Huntington, 
poundmaster. On the 16th day of September, 1849, 
the trustees leased of Solon Huntington "a piece of 
ground for the purpose of being used as a pound lot, and 
also a passage or driveway thereto for the said village, 
for the full term of twenty years in consideration of 
one dollar." 

This pound lot was located nearly where the Wind- 
sor hotel barns now stand. The lease covers a full 
page of legal cap, and is signed and sealed by the trus- 
tees and Mr. Huntington. At a later date the first 
village prison or lockup was erected upon this lot. It 
was a structiire of stone. 

At the election of 1851, Eliakim R. Ford, Harvey 
Baker, John T. Wild, Err W. Bennett, and Hezekiah 
Watkins were elected trustees, D. W. Ford was elected 
clerk, David J. Yager, treasurer. An especial election 
was held April 9th, 1851, at which the following reso- 



EECOLLECTIONS OF HARVEY BAKER. 1S3 

lutious Avcre passed : 

Resolved, That the sum of fifty dollars be raised by 
tax in the incorporated village of Oneonta npon the tax- 
able property therein to defray the expenses of building 
one or more water reservoirs in said village. 

Resolved, That the sum of thirty-five dollars be raised 
by tax in the incorporated village of Oneonta npon the 
taxable property therein to defray the expense of pur- 
chasing some engine hose to be used in the extinguish- 
ing of fires. 

Eighty-five dollars contrasts considerably with the 
thousands raised now. 

At the election March 3d, 1852, Harvey Baker, S. 
M. Ballard, John McCrany, John M. Watkins, and 
William Bronson were elected trustees ; A. G. Shaw 
clerk; D. J. Yager, treasurer; E. B. Shove, collector; 
S. Huntington, poundmaster. A tax of twenty-one 
dollars and ninety-nine cents was voted for this year. 

A map of the village as incorporated in 1848 is pre- 
served. It shows the east bounds of the village as then 
to be the west bounds of the Joseph Walling farm, now 
the J. K. L. Walling farm. Its west bounds are the 
east line of the Andrew Parish farm, now the Scramling 
farm. Its south bounds are the Susquehanna river. 
Its north bounds are the Otego patent line. This 
corporation continued in force until April 20th, 1870. 

At that date an act was passed under the title of "An 
Act to incorporate the village of Oneonta, Otsego coun- 



184 HISTORY OF ONEO:VTA. 

tj, K"ew York," which was passed at the date above 
named and Onconta became an incorporated village by 
legislative enactment. 

The following year, March IMh, 1871, an act was 
passed which extended the bonnds of the corporation to 
their present limits, viz : the westerly line of the Con- 
rad Wolf farm for its westerly bonnds and its easterly 
bonnds to the westerly line of the John I. Conse farm. 
Its north bonndary still remaining the Otego patent, 
and its sonth the Snsqnehanna river. 

The people of Oneonta, finding the charter of 1870 
nnsatisfactory, in the fall of 1884 called a pnblic meet- 
ing and appointed a committee to prepare a new charter. 
Harvey Baker was by the meeting appointed chairman 
of sneli committee. The committee held many sessions 
and prepared the present charter with mnch care. 

The village was divided into six wards and a trustee 
or alderman assigned to each ward and only two of them 
are annually elected ; so that four members of the pre- 
vious board remain over each year, thus giving a major- 
ity of experienced men continually in the board. This 
new charter was passed by the legislature February 
23, 1885, which, with some amendments, is still in force. 



Going Home. 

BY EMILY BUGBEE JOHNSON. 

Worn with the fretting waves of time, 

I turned my weary, wandering feet. 
To find the paths of girlhood's time. 

And taste once more its friendships sweet 
Strange, strange, to me the thriving town : 

The steps of progress had been there, 
Few were the landmarks that I found 

Within its precincts new and fair. 

But there my own blue river rolled 

Its winding course across the plain. 
And with the lissome grace of old, 

The willow fringes still remain. 
And oh, the hills ! I could have wept, 

As once again I saw them rise, 
White silver mists above them crept. 

And autumn robed them in her dyes. 

My heart leaped toward them like a thrill 

Of recognition as of yore. 
They seemed to give me greeting still, 

And bid me welcome home once more. 



186 HISTORY OF ONEONTA. 

Old comrades were we when the glow 
Of youth's glad time was in the heart 

What joy and strength I used to know 
In blest communings oft apart. 

What sweet companionship I found, 

In hill and river, plain and wood. 
When the horizon girded round 

My world, with all its held of good ; 
Though all things else had passed away, 

And no remembered face to greet. 
As I had wandered day by day 

Along the once familiar street. 

Yet I had come unto my own, 

And still had felt my pulses bound 
At every tree and rock and stone. 

And every slope of mossy ground. 
But some true hearts had kept the chain 

Of early friendship pure and bright, 
And after years of joy and pain. 

We caught a gleam of morning light. 

Girls of my girlhood wore they yet, 
And still the boys of olden days. 

Though Time's relentless hand had set 
His outward seal in many ways. 



GOING HOME. 187 

We lived our youth-time pleasures o'er, 
And wandered by the silver strand, 

Of the fair, flowery isles of yore 
Encircled by the morning land, 

We were but few ; for many slept, 

And some had wandered far and wide; 
But still the cherished names we kept. 

And memory called them to our side. 
Now musing by the winter fire, 

I see the picture gleaming bright, 
That blessed my spirit's long desire, 

Bathed in the autumn's mellow light. 

Fair Oneonta, "place of rest," 

Set gem-like on the fertile plain. 
By all thy guardian hills caressed. 

Mine eyes may see thee not again ; 
Yet, as the shortening years go by, 

My thoughts shall fondly turn to thee, 
W^hen autumn splendors round me lie. 

Or summer skies bend blue and free. 



The Vale of the Susquehanna. 

BY EMILY BUGBEE JOHNSON. 

I dream of a blue lake sleeping 
Where the eastern hills arise, 

Their dark green summits bathing 
In the light of the sunny skies, 

And the gleam of a quiet village 

Nestled among the green, 
And alternate sun and shadow 
Flit over the peaceful scene. 

Smooth, emerald lawns are sloping 
Down to the lake's calm side. 

And young, fair forms are floating 
Over the glassy tide. 

I seem to hear the echo 

Float over the circling hill. 
Of voices whose gentle music 
Is deep in my memory still. 

And out from the lake's calm bosom, 

A river is gliding slow. 
Over whose singing waters 

The willows bend lithe and low. 



190 HISTORY OF ONEONTA. 

But swifter rnslies the current, 
As further it winds along, 

Over the summer meadows, 

Filled with its own sweet song. 

From the hills by the olden homestead 
I've watched it glimmer and sheen 
In the sun of the summer morning, 
And the light of the silver e'en. 

And oft with my old companions, 
When life was a rose-hued dream. 

At twilight hour I've wandered 
The banks of the star-lit stream. 

O, vale of the blue Susquehanna, 
My love for thee never can fade, 

For hard by the murmuring waters, 
The cherished and lovely are laid. 

And down in the heart's hidden chambers, 
A cable of strength is fast, 

Wliich links the world of the present, 
To the land of the mystical past. 

And over the chords electric. 

Swift as the lightning gleam. 
Comes many a voiceless presence 
Borne through the deep unseen. 



